President Joe Biden will officially kick off his 2024 presidential run June 17 at a Philadelphia rally hosted by organized labor in a state where a narrow win helped him clinch the White House in 2020.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden will officially kick off his 2024 presidential run June 17 at a Philadelphia rally hosted by organized labor in a state where a narrow win helped him clinch the White House in 2020.
Biden, who has called himself the most pro-union president in US history, is signaling he intends to depend heavily on organized labor’s support to win a second term.
The event takes Biden to a key 2024 battleground state and echoes his last campaign kickoff event in May 2019, during which he called for national unity and touted his bipartisan dealmaking skills.
Months later, in-person campaigning largely shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2024 campaign, though, promises to be a much more traditional affair than 2020, with political rallies, visits to early primary states, cocktail parties with donors and in-person endorsements from fellow Democrats — raising questions about whether Biden, 80, can keep pace.
Former President Donald Trump — the current 2024 GOP frontrunner — is seeking a rematch of the 2020 race in which Biden unseated him. The Republican field also includes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, US Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Biden has indicated he is eager to again face Trump, calling him a persistent danger to democracy, But he may face a tougher path in a rematch. National polls show a majority of voters unsold on Biden’s accomplishments, while Democrats fret about his age.
Biden — already the oldest sitting US president ever — would be 86 at the end of a second term. But he’s betting voters will reward him for his decades of experience and record, while looking past age concerns.
Earlier: Biden Says He Took a ‘Hard Look’ At Age Question Before Running
Biden formally announced he would seek reelection in late April, imploring voters to let him “finish this job” in a three-minute video in which he warned the nation still faces threats from “extremists” in the Republican Party.
“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom,” Biden said. “This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.”
Biden’s announcement and comments since then suggest he will run on themes — protecting abortion rights, voting rights and the social safety net — that helped propel Democrats to a better-than-expected result in November’s midterms, while painting Republicans as extremists in thrall to Trump with policies that do not serve most Americans.
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