‘Let’s finish this job’: Biden unveils 2024 reelection bid

President Joe Biden speaks about making jobs and the economy at SK Siltron CSS, a computer chip factory in Bay City, Mich., in November 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)President Joe Biden speaks in the White House in April 14, 2021, about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik).
WASHINGTON - - President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally revealed that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking citizens to give him more time to "end up the task" he began when he was sworn into workplace and to set aside their concerns about extending the run of America's earliest president for another 4 years.

Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a 2nd term, is wagering his first-term legislative accomplishments and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He deals with a smooth path to winning his celebration's election, without any major Democratic rivals. But he's still set for a hard-fought battle to maintain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.

The announcement, in a three-minute video, comes on the four-year anniversary of when Biden stated for the White House in 2019, guaranteeing to recover the "soul of the nation" in the middle of the rough presidency of Donald Trump - - a goal that has actually remained elusive.

" I stated we remain in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are," Biden said. "The question we are dealing with is whether in the years ahead we have more flexibility or less flexibility. More rights or less.".

Age concerns.

While the prospect of looking for reelection has been an offered for most contemporary presidents, that's not constantly been the case for Biden. A notable swath of Democratic voters have actually suggested they would prefer he not run, in part due to the fact that of his age - - concerns Biden has actually called" completely genuine" however ones he did not resolve head-on in the launch video.

Yet couple of things have unified Democratic citizens like the prospect of Trump going back to power. And Biden's political standing within his celebration supported after Democrats notched a stronger-than-expected efficiency in last year's midterm elections. The president is set to run again on the same themes that buoyed his party last fall, especially on protecting access to abortion.

" Freedom. Personal freedom is essential to who we are as Americans. There's absolutely nothing more vital. Absolutely nothing more sacred," Biden stated in the launch video, depicting Republican extremists as trying to roll back access to abortion, cut Social Security, limit ballot rights and ban books they disagree with. "Around the nation, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away.".

" This is not a time to be complacent," Biden added. "That's why I'm running for reelection.".

As the shapes of the campaign start to take shape, Biden prepares to campaign on his record. He spent his very first 2 years as president combating the coronavirus pandemic and pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan facilities package and legislation to promote state-of-the-art production and climate procedures. With Republicans now in control of the House, Biden has actually shifted his focus to carrying out those massive laws and making sure voters credit him for the improvements.

The president likewise has multiple policy goals and unmet guarantees from his very first project that he's asking citizens on giving him another possibility to satisfy.

" Let's finish this job. I know we can," Biden stated in the video, repeating a mantra he said a lots times during his State of the Union address in February, listing everything from passing a restriction on assault-style weapons and decreasing the expense of prescription drugs to codifying a national right to abortion after the Supreme Court's judgment last year reversing Roe v. Wade.

Buoyed by the midterm results, Biden prepares to continue to cast all Republicans as accepting what he calls "ultra-MAGA" politics - - a referral to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan - - regardless of whether his predecessor winds up on the 2024 tally.

Presidency highlights.

In the video, Biden speaks over short clips and pictures of essential moments in his presidency, pictures of diverse Americans and flashes of outspoken Republican foes, including Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. He exhorts supporters that "this is our moment" to "defend democracy. Defend our personal liberties. Defend the right to vote and our civil liberties.".

Biden likewise prepares to point to his work over the past 2 years supporting American alliances, leading an international union to support Ukraine's defenses against Russia's invasion and returning the U.S. to the Paris environment accord. However public assistance in the U.S. for Ukraine has actually softened in current months, and some citizens question the tens of billions of dollars in economic and military assistance streaming to Kyiv.

The president deals with remaining criticism over his administration's chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost 20 years of war, which undercut the image of skills he intended to represent, and he's the target of GOP attacks over his migration and economic policies.

As a prospect in 2020, Biden pitched voters on his familiarity with the halls of power in Washington and his relationships worldwide. But even back then, he was acutely aware of voters' issues about his age.

" Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else," Biden said in March 2020, as he campaigned in Michigan with younger Democrats, consisting of now-Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. "There's an entire generation of leaders you saw guarantee me. They are the future of this nation.".

Three years later, the president now 80, Biden allies say his time in workplace has actually demonstrated that he saw himself as more of a transformational than a transitional leader.

Still, many Democrats would prefer that Biden didn't run once again. A current poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reveals just 47% of Democrats say they want him to seek a 2nd term, up from 37% in February. And Biden's verbal - - and periodic physical - - stumbles have ended up being fodder for critics trying to cast him as unfit for workplace.

Biden, on numerous occasions, has actually brushed back worries about his age, saying merely, "Watch me.".

Throughout a routine physical in February, his physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, declared him "healthy, energetic" and "healthy" to manage his White House duties.

Biden opponents.

Assistants acknowledge that while some in his party may choose an option to Biden, there is anything however consensus within their varied coalition on who that might be. And they insist that when Biden is compared with whomever the GOP chooses, Democrats and independents will rally around Biden.

In the meantime, the 76-year-old Trump is the preferred to emerge as the Republican candidate, producing the capacity of a historic follow up to the bitterly battled 2020 project. Trump deals with significant hurdles of his own, including the classification of being the very first former president to face criminal charges. The staying GOP field is volatile, with DeSantis emerging as an early option to Trump. DeSantis' stature is also in question, nevertheless, amid concerns about his readiness to campaign outside of his progressively Republican-leaning state.

To dominate once again, Biden will need the alliance of black citizens and young citizens - - particularly ladies - - in addition to blue-collar Midwesterners, moderates and disaffected Republicans who helped him win in 2020. He'll need to again carry the so-called "blue wall" in the Upper Midwest, while securing his position in Georgia and Arizona, longtime GOP strongholds he narrowly won last time.

Biden's reelection quote comes as the nation weather conditions unpredictable financial crosscurrents. Inflation is ticking down after hitting the highest rate in a generation, however unemployment is at a 50-year low, and the economy is showing signs of strength despite Federal Reserve rate of interest walkings.

Presidents typically attempt to delay their reelection statements to keep the advantages of incumbency and skate above the political fray for as long as possible while their competitors trade jabs. But the leg up offered by remaining in the White House can be rickety - - three of the last seven presidents have actually lost reelection, most just recently Trump in 2020.

Biden's statement is approximately constant with the timeline followed by then-President Barack Obama, who waited until April 2011 to state for a 2nd term and didn't hold a reelection rally up until May 2012. Trump launched his reelection quote on the day he was sworn in 2017.

Hectic schedule.

Biden is not anticipated to considerably alter his day-to-day schedule as a prospect - - a minimum of not - right away - with assistants believing his strongest political asset is revealing the American individuals that he is governing. And if he follows the Obama playbook, he might not hold any official campaign rallies up until well into 2024.

On Tuesday, Biden called White House advisor Julie Cháá vez Rodríí guez to serve as campaign manager and Quentin Fulks, who ran Sen. Raphael Warnock's reelection project in Georgia last year, to work as primary deputy campaign manager. The project co-chairs will be Reps. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Jim Clyburn and Veronica Escobar; Sens. Chris Coons and Tammy Duckworth; entertainment mogul and Democratic mega-donor Jeffrey Katzenberg; and Whitmer.

On the heels of the announcement Tuesday, Biden was set to provide remarks to union members before hosting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a state check out at the White House. He prepares to meet party donors in Washington later on today.