Washington [US]: US President Joe Biden on Monday (local time) said that he plans to run for president in 2024 but was not prepared to announce it yet.
In an interview with NBC’s “Today” show before the White House Easter Egg Roll, Biden said, “I plan on running … but we’re not prepared to announce it yet.” Biden is the oldest US president in history. If he wins re-election, he would be 86 at the end of his second term.
Biden has said he intends to be the Democratic candidate in 2024 but has not made a formal announcement. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they will run together, reported NBC News.
Biden, 80, has consistently stated his plans to run for re-election. “I’m going to do it again,” Biden said last year as he posed for a photograph in the Roosevelt Room with Sharpton.
Top White House advisers are set to make final decisions on launching Biden’s re-election campaign, NBC News reported, citing several unidentified sources.
“The decision part is over, but he resents the pressure to have to announce what he’s already decided,” one source familiar with the matter told NBC.
Several considerations in the decision-making process include that no major Democratic challenger has emerged; that former President Donald Trump, who is running for the GOP nomination, has been indicted and is consuming the political spotlight; and that there’s a major clash coming with congressional Republicans over spending.
Last week, the former president pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to falsifying business records.
There are currently two announced candidates for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination – best-selling self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr.
No prominent Democratic officeholders appear to be considering a challenge to the incumbent, however.
Despite lacklustre approval ratings, Democratic power brokers have indicated that they are all in for Biden’s re-election bid even before he has officially declared his intention to seek it, reported NBC News.
Biden’s remarks come as he broke with progressives on some hot-button issues ahead of the expected launch of his re-election campaign, including on crime, immigration policy and the environment.
However, Democrats from across the party, from progressives and moderates to leadership and rank-and-file members — have said they plan to stick with Biden heading into 2024.
