WASHINGTON — Four years after announcing his 2020 candidacy, President Joe Biden will ask for another four years on Tuesday, hoping to prevent President Donald J. Trump from changing the character of America “forever and fundamentally.”
People close to Mr. Biden hope that he will announce his re-election bid in a video, as he did on his last campaign trip, when he used the same approach urging Americans to think differently about the country and to “remember live who we are.”
Mr. Biden’s task will be more complicated a second time around, as he is forced to defend his record while warning of the dangers of Mr. Trump’s return. While the former president remains the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also gearing up for a possible bid.
Within days of Mr. Biden’s expected announcement, some of his top donors have been invited to gather in Washington for various financial summits that will kick off a race against time to top up the president’s war chest. The meeting expected on Friday will be a necessary early step in a campaign that will keep a low profile for as long as a year.
Next, Mr. Biden will hire staff who can work outside the White House: campaign managers, communications assistants, state campaign directors, pollsters, finance managers, volunteers, and more.
Julie Chávez Rodriguez, a senior White House adviser and granddaughter of US labor leader Cesar Chavez, is among those being considered for re-election. But a person familiar with the president’s thinking said that as of Sunday afternoon, Biden hadn’t made a final decision on who would campaign day-to-day.
Whatever the choice, Mr. Biden’s cabinet advisers are in plain view: Throughout his first campaign for the presidency and during his tenure, he has maintained close ties to a handful. These include Mike Donilon, his top political adviser; Anita Dunn, his communications guru; Steve Ricchetti, his legislative adviser; Ron Klein, his former chief of staff; Jen O’Malley Dillon, who managed his first campaign and is now the White House’s deputy chief of staff; and Kate Bedingfield, his former communications director.
The team is betting Mr. Biden’s accomplishments will earn him votes to stay in the Oval Office. He will argue that he has restored prosperity despite lingering economic uncertainty and inflation concerns. He will focus on passing legislation to inject billions of dollars into infrastructure, climate and health care. He will be praised for restoring overseas alliances at a time of global tension.
The president will also seek to exacerbate differences with what he says is an elitist and intolerant Republican party that threatens his administration’s progress. As he begins to ramp up his campaign, he hopes to demonstrate that voters can choose between a competent president and a return to the chaos Trump has championed.
“When you’re president running for re-election, you’re an obvious and fair target for someone who’s disappointed not just with the amount of progress, but even with the pace of progress during your tenure,” said Jen Psaki, MD Deng’s former press secretary said Sunday on her MSNBC show discussing the upcoming campaign announcement.
“Running for president for the first time is aspirational. You can make all kinds of big, bold promises,” she said, predicting Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign would be “incredibly tough.” “Running for re-election is when you really get a report card from the American people.”
The report card will include some of the low scores from voters that the president and his team will have to contend with as they build their campaign as they run the risk of running out in Wilmington, Delaware — close to the president Regular weekend getaway year for the past two years.
At 80, Mr. Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history, and polls show that even a majority of Democrats fear re-election to a commander-in-chief who will turn 86 at the end of his second term.
The president must also be held accountable for his administration’s chaotic handling of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, as well as rapid inflation that has driven up the cost of everything from groceries to natural gas, eroding the economy. The economic wealth of most middle-income Americans.
But those responsible for delivering another victory to Mr. Biden both inside the White House and on the fledgling campaign are determined to work hard to focus on the alternative.
The president has begun ramping up his anti-Trump rhetoric, accusing Republicans of espousing a “radical MAGA agenda,” a phrase Mr. Trump used repeatedly during the 2016 campaign and his presidency.
In a speech last week at a union hall in Acokeque, Maryland, for the 77th convention of the International Federation of Operations Engineers, Mr. Biden used the hashtag MAGA 21 times as he attacked a Republican proposal in Congress to cut spending on domestic programs. Proposal 22%.
“MAGA cuts of 22 percent undermine railroad safety, food safety, border security, clean air and clean water,” the president told a small but friendly union audience. “It’s not an exaggeration; it’s a fact.”
People close to Biden said over the weekend that his decision to formally announce his candidacy would not immediately lead to major shifts in his actions or schedule.
People familiar with his plans say he is unlikely to begin campaign-style rallies in the next few months. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the president has not made an announcement. Instead, Mr. Biden will continue with the same types of policy-focused visits he has been making for months.
The visits – which include speeches on falling unemployment, the environment, infrastructure improvements and child care – are intended to underscore his government’s achievements since taking office amid the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. Aides said the president intends to continue to deliver as much of that information as possible.
Mr Biden will also continue to focus on the challenges of the presidency. Next month, he plans to fly to Hiroshima, Japan, for a three-day summit with world leaders focused on the war in Ukraine and emerging rivalries from China and other hotspots around the world. He will then travel to Australia to sign a new agreement on nuclear submarines.
When Mr. Biden returns to Washington, he will have a showdown with Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the need for Congress to raise the debt ceiling and avoid economic catastrophe.
