President Joe Biden said he has plans to run for the 2024 election but is not ready to make an official announcement.
On Monday, Biden spoke with Al Roker on the Today Show during a quick chat at the annual White House Easter egg roll. “I plan on running Al, but we’re not prepared to announce it yet,” he said alongside first lady Jill Biden.
This isn’t the first time that Biden has said that he seeks a second term in the White House; however, the timeline for an official announcement has gotten pushed, leaving the Democratic party in a state of limbo.
The latest reports are that the President may wait until the summer to announce. Biden’s advisors argue there is no rush because they believe no major Democratic primary challenger has emerged, former President Donald Trump has been indicted, and there is a clash amongst congressional Republicans over spending.
This delayed announcement gives other presidential aspirants and major donors time to quietly develop a Plan B while publicly supporting Biden.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, founder of Children’s Health Defense, an organization deemed as “anti-vaccine propaganda,” and son of former U.S. attorney general and 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy filed paperwork last week to run for president as a Democrat.
Marianne Williamson, a best-selling self-help author, founder of Project Angel Food, a program to deliver meals to homebound people with AIDS, and spiritual guru to Oprah Winfrey, declared she was running for the presidency in February of this year. Williamson ran for president unsuccessfully in 2020 and later endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who finished second in the Democratic Primary to Joe Biden.
On the Republican side, Nikki Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations and the first-high profile Republican to challenge Trump, announced in February that she is also seeking the GOP nomination. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is also expected to launch a 2024 bid. Former President Trump announced that he would run again in 2024 after losing to Biden in the 2020 election.
There is no sense of urgency to make an official announcement after the Democrats’ better-than-expected midterms performances, and due to Trump consuming the political spotlight with his indictment, White House advisors have told reporters that Biden will “focus on the American people.”
Biden is the oldest U.S. President in history. If he wins re-election, he will be 86 by the end of his second term.
