Washington: President Joe Biden will formally declare his intention to seek reelection in 2024 on Tuesday. In his announcement, he will ask voters to give him more time to "finish the job" he started when he took office and to put aside their concerns about extending the tenure of America's oldest president for another four years.
At 86 years old at the end of a second term, Biden is hoping that his first-term legislative successes and more than 50 years of experience in Washington, D.C., will outweigh any concerns about his advanced age.
Due to the lack of serious Democratic opponents, he will have an easy time winning his party's nomination. However, he will still have to fight tooth and nail to keep his position as president in a deeply divided country.
The announcement will be made four years after Biden announced his candidature for president in 2019, promising to restore the "soul of the nation" amid Donald Trump's chaotic administration. This goal has proven to be elusive.
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While most modern presidents have considered running for reelection without hesitation, Biden hasn't always done so. Because of his age, a sizeable portion of Democratic voters have expressed a preference that he not run, which Biden himself has called "totally legitimate."
However, few issues have brought Democratic voters together more than the possibility of a Trump victory. Additionally, following a better-than-expected showing by Democrats in the midterm elections of last year, Biden's political standing within his party stabilised.
Trump, 76, is currently the favourite to become the Republican nominee, opening the door for a historic follow-up to the turbulent 2020 campaign. Trump, however, has his own formidable obstacles to overcome, such as the distinction of being the first former president to be charged with a crime.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has emerged as an early challenger to Trump in the volatile GOP field. However, amid concerns about his readiness to run for office outside of his state's increasingly Republican-leaning state, his stature is also in doubt.
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Biden plans to run on his record as the campaign's themes start to take shape. His first two years in office were devoted to fighting the coronavirus pandemic and passing significant legislation, including the bipartisan infrastructure package, laws promoting high-tech manufacturing, and climate change regulations. With the GOP now in control of the House, Biden has shifted his attention to enacting these significant laws, ensuring that voters recognise him for the improvements, and highlighting the differences with the GOP in preparation for an anticipated showdown over raising the national borrowing limit, which could have disastrous effects on the economy.
The president is pleading with voters to give him another chance to fulfil his numerous policy objectives and unfulfilled campaign promises. During his State of the Union speech in February, Biden used the phrase "let's finish the job" 12 times, citing issues like codifying a national right to abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision and banning assault-style weapons.
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Encouraged by the midterm results, Biden intends to continue portraying all Republicans as adhering to what he terms "ultra-MAGA" politics, a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" catchphrase, whether or not his predecessor appears on the 2024 ballot. He has been putting his campaign themes to the test over the past few months, portraying Republicans as fighting for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy while attempting to reduce social safety net benefits rely on by average Americans.