President Joe Biden of the United States has officially announced that he will seek a second term in office in the 2024 election.
Biden, who announced in a 3-minute video with links to images from the January 6 2023 riots at the Capitol with protests over the Supreme Court decision overturning abortion rights, said he is running to ensure the freedom of all Americans.
The 3-minute video also features an image of Trump with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his onetime ally and of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, whom Biden describes as “MAGA extremists “dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love. All while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.”
“MAGA extremists are lining up. Cutting Social Security that you’ve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. Dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love. All while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote,” Biden says in his video.
“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are. The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election,” Biden said.
In the announcement video, Biden said that he wants to finish the job he set out to do. He has consistently emphasized this since his February “State of the Union” speech when he repeated the phrase “let’s finish the job” 12 times.
Biden’s announcement comes exactly four years after the launch of his 2020 campaign, also with a video, which was run on a platform of fighting for “the soul of our nation,” criticising Trump for dividing the nation along racism and antidemocratic sentiment.
Kamala Harris, his vice has also announced that she is running for reelection and will be Biden’s running mate again.
At 80, many American voters think Biden is too old for a second term. He is the oldest American president. His age has also given some Democrats cause for worry as they question whether he can give the party a victory in the 2024 elections. However, there seems not to be better considerations in the party.
Though Biden started a slow presidency, he had improved in ratings as most of his policies have proven popular. These include climate and health care measures in the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan spending bills on infrastructure and semiconductor manufacturing.
This was reflected in the results of the mid-term elections as the Democrats performed better than expected.
Biden’s announcement has now set up a potential rematch with former President Donald Trump, who in November last year announced he would be contesting the 2024 elections.
