Biden eyeing 2024 reelection campaign launch after midterms: report
AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File
- President Biden is laying the groundwork to announce a 2024 bid after the midterms, per Bloomberg.
- Biden reportedly feels energized by his recent string of legislative victories on Capitol Hill.
- "It is clear-cut that he's our best candidate," former Biden senior advisor Cedric Richmond said.
President Joe Biden is laying the groundwork to kick off his 2024 reelection campaign after the November midterm elections, according to aides and political allies who spoke with Bloomberg.
Biden seeking a second term in the White House could set up a potential rematch with former President Donald Trump.
Trump has teased a third presidential bid since leaving the Oval Office last year and is reportedly looking to announce a campaign soon. But he will likely have to ward off several high-profile GOP challengers who are banking on attracting Republicans who still admire the former president but desire a new standard bearer for the party.
Anita Dunn, a longtime Bidenworld figure who recently rejoined the White House as a senior advisor, said the president has always been serious about seeking a second term.
"The president has said he's planning on running again," she told Bloomberg. "People should take him at his word."
While many Democrats are clamoring for a new candidate, Biden — who will turn 80 years old in November — feels emboldened by his string of wins in the nation's capital, per Bloomberg. And he also would like to block a second Trump White House term, as he continues to view his onetime opponent as a threat to the foundation of the country.
The former president could use outrage over the recent FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which he has slammed as political, to launch his campaign.
Trump has vehemently denied any sort of wrongdoing and continues to enjoy strong support from many quarters of the GOP regarding the matter, which involves potential violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice laws.
But Biden, who said he was not made aware of the search and found out publicly through media reports, has looked at his past victory as a guide for another potential Trump campaign.
In the 2020 presidential election, Biden defeated Trump by a 306-232 Electoral College edge and won a majority of the popular vote, flipping the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
While he entered the White House as a relatively popular figure, Biden's approval ratings have fallen precipitously since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, and his numbers have yet to recover.
Upon taking office, Biden was tasked with guiding the vaccinations of millions of Americans against COVID-19, with the challenges of inflation and high gas prices threatening the health of the economy.
For over a year, the domestic Democratic agenda was also stuck in Congress, as the party has had to govern with razor-thin majorities in both houses since last year and has needed near-unanimous buy-in from their caucus to pass major reconciliation bills.
However, Biden has had a string of recent wins on the domestic front, from the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — which was crafted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and includes a record amount of funding to fight climate change — to a $52 billion chips-funding bill that won significant GOP support.
And gas prices now average slightly under $4 across the United States.
Former Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, a ex-senior Biden White House advisor who now works at the Democratic National Committee, argued that the president has maintained a strong standing in the party as it looks to 2024.
"It is clear-cut that he's our best candidate," Richmond said, rejecting "annoying and distracting" questions about Biden's age and approval ratings. "He thought he was the only person who could beat Donald Trump when Trump ran for re-election, and he was right."
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/Uqc0ArE
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