Joe Biden likely running again, he says: The president has not formally announced a reelection bid for 2024, although every indication is that he does indeed plan to run again. He made that clear again on Monday.
What We Know
When will President Biden announce his decision on running in 2024?
Back in early February, Politico reported that the president would likely be announcing his re-election campaign in late March or April. Late March came and went, as did early April, and there’s no indication of a formal campaign kickoff. Ahead of the 2020 race, Joe Biden officially announced his candidacy on April 25, 2019, with a campaign kickoff rally in Philadelphia on May 18 of that year. That announcement had been pushed back multiple times, per Axios.
Despite the lack of an announcement, all indications are that Joe Biden plans to run again. He said that again himself this week.
A CNN report over the weekend stated that Biden has been telling officials that he is “definitely running,” but that an official announcement could wait until the summer. But Biden has not yet named a campaign manager or finance chief or decided where his campaign headquarters would be located. ‘
Axios reported last week that the official announcement might come in July, or possibly even in the fall. The delay, per the report, has left many potential staffers in limbo and unsure of their 2024 plans.
Per Axios, Biden said Monday in an appearance on NBC’s “Today Show” that “I plan on running” in 2024, but that he was “not prepared to announce it yet.”
Al Roker interviewed Biden and the First Lady at the White House Easter Egg Roll, asking the president whether he planned to participate in such Easter Egg Rolls after 2024.
Former President Donald Trump, of course, announced back in November that he was running to return to the White House. Some other Republicans have gotten into the race, including former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. Many others are expected to enter the race on the GOP side, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and possibly former Vice President Mike Pence.
Some Democrats have also gotten into the race ahead of Biden, including self-help author and 2020 candidate Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., neither of whom has ever held public office before.
But there has been little indication that any major Democratic elected official plans to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination. Many of them have said they will not run, for as long as Biden is in the race.
Should Joe Biden, for some reason, not run, it would likely open the floodgates of big names in the Democratic Party, with potential candidates including Vice President Kamala Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and a long list of blue state Democratic governors: Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, and Jared Polis of Colorado.
If Joe Biden, for whatever reason, decides not to run, it would leave potential successors with very little time to raise money or mount campaigns, before the voting starts in 2024.
“In what I think is the unlikely chance that he ultimately decides not to run this time, he will need to do so soon enough that other candidates can get into the field to be competitive,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), who holds Biden’s longtime seat in the U.S. Senate, told CNN. “I am encouraging him to run, and I think he will run. But he will make that decision on his timeline, not mine.”
Another Democrat had another take on the delay of Biden’s announcement.
“He’s not ambivalent about serving a second term, but he’s in no rush to be a candidate again,” an unnamed Democratic insider told CNN. “What’s the upside?”
This contrasts with Donald Trump, who has long appeared to enjoy being a candidate like few other things.
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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.
