Incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden said early Tuesday that he will seek a second term in office. The move potentially set him up for another clash with former President Donald Trump who is the Republican Party’s front-runner for nomination.
As in 2019, Biden used a video clip to announce his new run. In the three-minute reel, he said that he would be asking American voters to give him more time to “finish the job.”
Part of Biden’s appeal in the 2020 election was his appeal to restore calm and heal wounds in a divided nation, following the turbulent Trump years. That has not yet been achieved and Biden’s launch video clearly points to deep rifts in U.S. society.
“I said we are in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are,” Biden said. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer.” His video portrayed the Republicans as extremists who have rolled back abortion rights, cut social security, limited voting rights and embarked on a censorship campaign by banning books they disagree with.
Biden continued: “Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There’s nothing more important. Nothing more sacred,” Biden said. “Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away.”
The AP News agency said that Biden is already America’s oldest president. And calculated that, should he win, Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term.
That prospect has dismayed many in his own Democratic Party camp, who might prefer a younger, more dynamic and diverse candidate. However, the AP suggests that Biden will face little serious opposition in securing his party’s nomination. There are few other serious contenders and the Democrats, largely united in their opposition to giving Trump a second term, are expected to rally around Biden.
Trump is currently 76 and would be 78 in January 2025, when the next presidential term begins.