US President, Joe Biden, has declared his intention to seek a second term in the White House, ending months of speculation.
“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. 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.
“Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away. Cutting social security that you’ve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. Dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love. All while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote”, Biden said in a three-minute-long video announcing his candidacy released Tuesday morning.
Biden has long signalled that he would seek a second term, but the official launch of his campaign quells doubts that the 80-year-old president would run for re-election, and allows him to begin fundraising aggressively to support his campaign apparatus.
He is expected to address a conference of building trade unions later on Tuesday, at an event in Washington.
Biden is unlikely to face a serious primary challenge from within the Democratic party’s ranks. So far the only Democrats to launch presidential bids are Marianne Williamson, the self-help author, and Robert F Kennedy Jr, an environmental lawyer and scion of the Kennedy family, who has become prominent for his anti-vaccine views.
However, Biden is still likely to face an uphill battle at the ballot box in the general election against a Republican opponent. The American electorate is sharply divided, and Biden has battled persistently low approval ratings for much of his presidency.
There are expectations that the 2024 Presidential election could result in a rematch of the 2020 clash with Donald Trump.
Trump remains the apparent frontrunner in the Republican primary field, although several challengers, including Florida governor Ron DeSantis, have yet to formally enter the race.
Tuesday’s announcement came exactly four years after Biden launched his successful 2020 bid for the presidency. The longtime US senator from Delaware ran unsuccessfully for president in both 1988 and 2008. Barack Obama eventually chose him as his vice-president.
Biden is the oldest serving president in US history. If re-elected, he would be 82 at the start of his second term, and 86 at the end of his White House tenure.