It’s official: Joe Biden is running for a second term – The president officially announced Tuesday that he’s running for re-election in 2024 in a video precisely four years after his 2020 announcement.
Joe Biden Makes It Offical
After months of speculation, Joe Biden is officially running for re-election in 2024. He announced in a campaign video Tuesday morning.
“Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours,” Biden said in a tweet introducing his re-election announcement video. “That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States. Join us. Let’s finish the job.”
The three-minute video begins with a video of January 6, as well as protesters outside the Supreme Court, presumably from the day that Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” Biden says in the video. “There’s nothing more important, nothing more sacred. That’s been the work of my first term, to fight for our democracy.
He contrasts that with “MAGA extremists,” who are “lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms,” accusing them of wanting to cut Social Security and “banning books.” Amusingly, this is illustrated with a picture of current enemies Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis standing together.
“When I ran for President four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America – and we still are,” Biden added in the video. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer.”
“Let’s finish this job, I know we can,” Biden says at the end, indicating that “Let’s finish the job” will be either an official slogan or a key message in the 2024 re-election effort.
And in case there was any doubt about Vice President Kamala Harris remaining on the ticket, she is prominently included in the video throughout.
The Age Issue for Joe Biden
Biden, at age 80, is already the oldest president in history and would be 86 at the end of a second term. However, his possible opponent, Donald Trump, was the previous most senior president and is now 76.
He will likely run with virtually full support from the DNC and other major Democratic institutions, with no significant figures in the party challenging him. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Marianne Williamson have announced campaigns, but it appears unlikely that they will have a chance to debate the president.
Why Run Again?
Why is Biden running again, especially when even Democratic voters aren’t sure about him at this age? Axios took a stab at explaining why.
“Biden friends think he might’ve retired if he thought Vice President Harris could beat former President Trump. But Biden sees Trump as a lethal threat to America — the reason to run and the issue to build his campaign around,” Axios said.
The piece added that Biden will tout his legislative accomplishments, in the areas of infrastructure and clean energy.
Axios reported that Julie Chávez Rodríguez will serve as Biden’s campaign manager, while Quentin Fulks — who ran Sen. Raphael Warnock’s successful re-election campaign in Georgia last year — will be her deputy.
Biden had maintained for months that he would likely run for re-election, but had delayed the official announcement of a 2024 bid.
Per the New York Times, Biden decided to run again because of “his antipathy for Mr. Trump and his belief that he is the Democrat best positioned to keep the criminally indicted and twice-impeached former president from recapturing the White House.”
It’s extremely early, with not even any primary voting until next January. But there are already general election polls, including one last week from the Wall Street Journal that found Biden leading Trump by three points in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, while Biden trails Ron DeSantis.
This led Trump to rip “the Globalist inspired Wall Street Journal, one of the worst, and most partisan, media outlets anywhere,” in a Truth Social post.
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Expertise and Experience:
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
