On Tuesday morning, President Joe Biden announced that he would be seeking reelection in the 2024 presidential race, releasing a campaign-style video and saying in a statement: “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. That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States.”
Below, find everything we know so far about Biden's reelection campaign:
How long has this announcement been in the works?
Biden said during a recent trip to Ireland that he was not yet ready to announce his reelection campaign, telling reporters: “We’ll announce it relatively soon.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed off questions about Biden’s 2024 run on April 20, noting at a press briefing: “What I will say is that any announcement or anything that is related to 2024 certainly will not come from here.”
Why wasn’t Biden’s reelection campaign announcement made earlier?
At 80, Biden is the oldest serving president in U.S. history and would be 86 years old by the end of his potential second term, giving some Democrats pause as to his fitness for the role and making the timing around his reelection announcement all the more important. Biden, who has been described as “famously indecisive,” missed his own self-imposed deadlines for selecting a running mate in 2020 several times before selecting Kamala Harris, so this hesitancy to announce isn’t totally out of character for his administration, especially given the added expense of officially opening a presidential campaign; to that end, though, Biden had already started summoning major campaign donors to Washington as early as last week.
Who is expected to challenge Biden in the Democratic primary?
So far, the main candidates in the field are writer and 2020 candidate Marianne Williamson—whose campaign has recently been fueled by TikTok—and environmental lawyer and author Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has risen to prominence as an anti-vaccine activist.
What issues is Biden's reelection campaign likely to focus on?
Biden has already broken with progressives on issues including immigration and crime, presumably in part to solidify his status as a tough decision-maker ahead of the 2024 campaign. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told NBC News that she and her left-leaning colleagues were “very frustrated” by Biden's embrace of a G.O.P.-led push to crack down on crime in D.C., ultimately noting that she would continue to support Biden nonetheless. Beyond that, it's likely that Biden's reelection campaign will focus on economic issues facing the middle class, including inflation, lowered drug prices, and shoring up Social Security.
How did Biden make the announcement?
As he did when he first announced he was running for president back in May 2019, Biden shared his statement via a carefully-considered campaign video. “When I ran for President four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America,” he said in the three-minute clip. “And we still are. The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer. I know what I want the answer to be and I think you do too. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election.” Biden also took the opportunity to appear with Vice President Kamala Harris and confirm that she will be his running mate in the upcoming election.