With only one year and several months until the 2024 election, President Biden has yet to make an official announcement that he will run for a second term, leaving some with doubts that he will. According to Politico, some Democrats are subtly preparing to throw their hats in the ring only if Biden does not seek reelection. Many Democrats have stated that they would support Biden running for a second term, but having him begin a second term at the age of 82 is leaving others questioning if he will pursue it.
Some Democrats reportedly preparing to run for president in the case that Biden does not seek a second term include Democratic Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Gavin Newsom of California and Phil Murphy of New Jersey. All have reportedly been keeping their campaign staff on standby, ready and prepared to launch a presidential campaign should the opportunity arise.
Politico points out Biden’s history of delaying decisions including taking his time to announce Kamala Harris as his running-mate in 2020, and pushing back timelines including the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and missing deadlines on COVID benchmarks as well as implementing sanctions on Russia.
Still, a decision and announcement is expected to come in April now, the month Biden originally announced his campaign in 2019 for the 2020 presidential election. April of 2011 is also when Barack Obama announced his reelection campaign for the 2012 election. Bill Clinton also announced his reelection in April, and George W. Bush announced his in May.
Biden is not in a rush to announce his reelection. According to Politico, “people in the president’s orbit say there is no hard deadline or formal process in place for arriving at a launch date decision. According to four people familiar with the president’s thinking, a final call has been pushed aside as real-world events intervene. His cloak-and-dagger trip to Kyiv over the holiday weekend took meticulous planning and the positive reaction to it was seen internally as providing him with more runway to turn back to domestic politics.”
As Biden waits to make an announcement, Republicans are beginning to join the campaign trail seeking to go up against him should he choose to run. The Republicans who will face-off in the primaries thus far include former President Donald Trump, former governor of South Carolina and U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Still, more are expected to enter the race as Democrats ponder their best shot at winning 2024.