Joe Biden plotted for a 2024 presidency — and a Trump rematch

Biden’s resolve to do a second White House bid is hardening, even as polls showed most Democrats would prefer a candidate other than the 79-year-old president. But people close to Biden describe him as excited by recent legislative, economic and foreign policy victories and are committed to refusing to see Trump return to the Oval Office again.

“The president has said he plans to run again. People should take him at his word,” said Anita Dunn, a longtime aide who recently returned to the White House.

Three congressional Democrats have recently suggested Biden to make way for a younger successor, while many have declined to support his re-election. Biden’s approval rating is only around 40%, according to an analysis of polls conducted by FiveThirtyEight.

But aides say Biden’s determination has grown amid revelations about Trump and his role in the January 6, 2021 rebellion, as well as Republicans’ continued embrace of the former president. This week, FBI agents investigated Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida to see whether he had removed classified documents from the White House, and Trump was sued by New York’s attorney general for claims that his businesses misled lenders. did.

Biden often notes polls that show him beating Trump head-to-head in a 2024 matchup, and believes he won the Democratic nomination in 2020 because he did the best to remove the former president from power. given a chance

But in a potential rematch, Biden will be the incumbent, defending his record in the economy and abroad, barring the still formidable and active base of Trump and his supporters.

Biden also should not face Trump at all, whether the former president, who is 76, opts against a run or loses a primary challenger to a rising and young Republican.

During a meeting with Democratic Party activists earlier this month, Biden said he worries the risks to democracy “have not diminished; if anything.” Biden said he can think of nothing more important than making sure the party is in a position to win both “as well as 2024.”

“He thought he was the only person who could beat” Donald Trump When Trump ran for re-election, and he was right,” said former congressman and White House aide Cedric Richmond, who has moved on to the Democratic National Committee to help coordinate political efforts.

“It is clear that he is our best candidate,” he said, describing concerns among Democrats about Biden’s age or popularity as “annoying and disturbing.”

democratic skepticism

An actual announcement will be in the months following the midterms, but aides say that quick coordination with the DNC, which has poured resources into critical swing states before November, is the surest public sign that Biden is plotting a second run. .

Strengthening the DNC has been a major priority for the president. The committee has raised more than $245 million so far this election cycle – a midterm record for the party.

The president sees consolidating DNC resources in major midterm races, including competitive Senate races in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, both as a way to support Democratic candidates who can help with his agenda and as a way to build state-level organizations. can, on which he will bow during one. The reelection bid, according to a Biden adviser, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan.

Biden has also reached out to the major donors who helped with his 2020 bid, and plans to build more political events and reach out to grassroots supporters. The adviser noted that several states with major races in 2022 will be important in the 2024 election and that investments there will help Biden’s presidential bid.

Biden has also sought to strengthen ties with labor unions that are a key individual constituency. Friendly political action groups have increased spending on battlefields, pro-Biden group Future Forward USA has put millions of dollars in advertisements and another supporting group, Building Back Together, is seeking to highlight its policy achievements.

Biden, Recently recovered from Kovid-19Is planning more aggressive domestic itineraries and more campaign-style events like town halls.

The strategy is primarily designed to promote Biden’s legislative achievements before November. But it is intended to briefly address concerns about the age of Biden that looms large over his presidency and has fueled speculation about whether he will launch another campaign.

Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York said during a Democratic primary debate earlier this month that she did not believe Biden would run for re-election. She later apologized and said that she wanted him to run again.

Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips answered “no” in a radio interview last month when asked if he would support Biden in 2024. Another Minnesota representative, Angie Craig, supported Phillips in an interview with the news organization Minnepost, saying the country needs a “new generation” of democratic leaders.

Other prominent Democrats, including Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have declined to support Biden’s re-election. Last weekend, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd asked Biden to “leave on high.”

Congressional aides and Democratic allies say that for many lawmakers, public equalization is a way to distance themselves from the White House in a particularly difficult political climate, not representative of a real break between Biden and his party.

Still, three-quarters of Democrats polled by CNN last month said they want a different candidate in 2024, and a quarter of Democratic voters said they don’t think Biden can win again.

political victory

Biden and his aides are cautious in responding to questions about whether he will run again, saying that no decision is final and may depend on his health. But the caution does not lie in concern over the president’s ability to serve a second term in the ’80s. Instead, allies say, they are concerned that announcing publicly before mid-term could lead to legal restrictions on fundraising. As a declared candidate, the DNC may also be responsible for a large portion of the cost of a presidential visit for some events.

The prospects for both Biden’s party and his own re-election in November have recently improved thanks to a series of political victories. He signed the first gun-safety law in decades, as well as a measure authorizing billions of dollars in subsidies for American semiconductor manufacturing. A $437 billion package to curb climate change, lower drug prices and raise taxes on corporations is headed for Biden’s table.

Late last month, he ordered a drone strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Recent inflation and jobs data suggest strong economic growth and continued decline in gas and food prices.

Biden’s aides expect those developments to pay political dividends, and they point out that current leaders around the world are unpopular due to worldwide conflict with post-pandemic inflation and the war in Ukraine. But they say the president will win if he weighs in against Republicans like Trump.

“If he says he plans to run, he’s running,” Richmond said. “And if he runs, he wins.”

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.

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