After months of hedging and coy answers about whether or not he's actually running for a second term in 2024, President Joe Biden might finally be close to pulling the trigger and formally announcing his reelection bid.
According to The Washington Post's routine reliance on "three people briefed on the plans...who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations," President Biden and his team "are preparing to announce his reelection campaign next week, with aides finalizing plans to release a video for the president to officially launch his campaign."
SCOOP: President Biden and his team are preparing to announce his re-election campaign next week.
— Tyler Pager (@tylerpager) April 20, 2023
They have targeted Tuesday to release an announcement video to coincide with the four-year anniversary of his 2020 campaign launch.
w/ @michaelscherer https://t.co/bdoeNhA12a
If true, that timing would "coincide with the four-year anniversary of his 2020 campaign launch," the Post noted.
The Post's anonymous sources, however, still "cautioned that the official announcement could be delayed," which wouldn't be all that surprising given Biden's cagey reaction to questions about whether he will follow through on his often-stated intention to run for a second term.
If Biden blows past another apparently significant-to-him date for announcing, that would likely only raise more questions about how serious Biden and his team are about making their 2024 plans official.
Via WaPo:
The timing of Biden’s announcement has been the source of debate among the president’s inner circle. An earlier announcement would let the president begin raising money for what could be a tough campaign, while waiting longer would allow Biden to position himself as above the political fray as Republicans battle each other for the GOP nomination.
The planned announcement would move the country one step closer to what could be an extraordinary presidential campaign. Biden, 80, would be 86 at the end of a second term, considerably older than any other president in U.S. history. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the man he defeated in 2020, has announced his own bid to reclaim the Oval Office, signaling a return to a highly unorthodox presidency should be succeed.
Both the White House and Democratic National Committee declined to comment on the alleged Tuesday announcement when asked by WaPo.
While Democrats remain generally supportive of their president, a growing contingent of Biden's party has shown a desire to move on to a fresher face for 2024, especially over concerns about a rematch between Biden and Trump given the current president's underwater polling numbers with critical independent voters. But with Vice President Kamala Harris' even worse favorability, and a lack of strong cabinet secretaries or governors across the country, it seems like Democrats might be stuck with Ol' Joe.
Still, two other Democrats have announced their runs for the party's nomination in 2024. Marianne Williamson, who ran in 2020 and lasted longer in the race than now-Vice President Kamala Harris, announced her candidacy at Washington, D.C.'s Union Station in early March. Williamson was joined in the race this week by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who a new USA Today poll showed was already drawing 14 percent of Biden's 2020 Democrat supporters to his campaign.
On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump is working toward his second term in the White House, though a handful of Republicans have jumped into the GOP primary to give him a run for his money. Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Asa Hutchinson have all declared, with a healthy list of potential other contenders still waiting in the wings. Tim Scott recently launched an exploratory committee, and many are waiting for Ron DeSantis to make a decision on his plans for 2024.
This is a developing story and may be updated.