Live Updates: Biden Will Seek Re-election, Setting Up Possible Rematch With Trump

 

Live Updates: Biden Will Seek Re-election, Setting Up Possible Rematch With Trump

 

President Biden formally announced that he would seek a second term, pitching himself as the Democrat best positioned to keep Donald J. Trump from reclaiming the White House.

 

Michael D. Shear

Updated

April 25, 2023, 6:00 a.m. ET40 minutes ago

40 minutes ago

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/20/us/biden-2024-campaign-news

 

WASHINGTON — President Biden announced his bid for a second four-year term in a video posted online Tuesday morning, urging voters to let him “finish this job” and setting in motion the possibility of a rematch with former President Donald J. Trump.

 

In the three-minute, four-second video, Mr. Biden says he has spent his first years in office fighting for democracy and freedom. And he warns that “MAGA extremists” around the country — using Mr. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — threaten those freedoms.

 

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are,” Mr. Biden says in the video, adding later: “That’s why I’m running for re-election.”

 

The formal declaration of Mr. Biden’s candidacy comes four years to the day after he said he would seek the presidency in 2019, asserting at the time that it was vital to prevent Mr. Trump from winning a second term.

 

Mr. Biden succeeded in 2020. But if Mr. Trump becomes the Republican nominee — he is currently the front-runner — Mr. Biden’s legacy will be determined by whether he is able to once again block Mr. Trump’s return to power.

 

The president does not mention Mr. Trump by name in the video. But the subtext is clear — it starts with scenes of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. When Mr. Biden says the words “MAGA extremists,” the screen flashes a picture of Mr. Trump with his arm on the shoulder of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another potential Republican rival.

 

“Every generation of Americans has faced a moment when they’ve had to defend democracy,” Mr. Biden says. “Stand up for our personal freedoms. Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights. And this is our moment.”

 

Here’s what else you need to know:

 

Neither Mr. Biden’s schedule, nor his message, is likely to change immediately. Aides said he was expected to keep up the same themes he had focused on for months: claiming credit for an improving economy and assailing Republicans on abortion, tax cuts, guns and intolerance.

 

One thing that will start quickly is fund-raising. The president’s top donors have been invited to a summit in Washington on Friday to begin raising money.

 

Mr. Biden chose Julie Chávez Rodriguez, a top adviser in the White House, to be his campaign manager. Quentin Fulks, who managed the 2022 campaign for Senator Raphael G. Warnock of Georgia, will be her deputy. But other members of Mr. Biden’s inner circle — including Jen O’Malley Dillon, his previous campaign manger, and Anita Dunn, his communications guru — will stay in the White House for now.

 

Mr. Biden’s team is betting that his opponent will likely be Mr. Trump, and is preparing accordingly. But the president has already begun ramping up his criticism of all Republicans, calling them “MAGA extremists.”