Biden to announce he will run for second term – reports
Joe Biden is set to announce he will run for a second term as US president next week, according to US media.
Mr Biden’s advisers are planning to launch his re-election campaign as soon as next Tuesday, three sources familiar with the plans have told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.
The 80-year-old president’s advisers have said for months that no formal timetable has been agreed for him to launch his campaign.
However they have long had their sights set on 25 April, the anniversary of Mr Biden’s 2020 campaign announcement, as an informal target.
Mr Biden will launch his candidacy for next year’s election with a campaign video message – just as he did four years ago, the sources said.
The timing and method of the announcement mirrors how the Obama-Biden ticket launched its re-election bid in 2011.
Jen O’Malley Dillon and Anita Dunn, senior White House advisers overseeing the announcement of Mr Biden’s campaign, both worked on Mr Obama’s re-election effort.
Advisers have cautioned that plans could still change based on a range of factors, with one source saying that nothing is official until the president announces it himself.
As the sitting president Mr Biden will likely not launch the kind of barnstorming tour he did in 2019 after his announcement.
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Instead, it is thought he will follow the precedent of other incumbents by employing what is known as a “Rose Garden strategy” for much of this year.
This refers to staying within the grounds of the White House rather than touring the country.
Mr Biden appeared to confirm he would seek re-election earlier this month when he said in an interview with NBC: “I plan on running… but we’re not prepared to announce it yet.”
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US correspondent
@Stone_SkyNews
It’s the most anticipated announcement in Washington DC – not whether he will run but when he will announce.
President Biden has hinted at it so many times. It’s been obvious for months and months that he wants to run again.
He seems to have cleared the self-imposed hurdle: his family’s approval.
I’ll admit I was sceptical. I had wondered if First Lady Jill Biden would tell him “enough”. He would, after all, be 82 at the time of re-election and 86 at the end of the next term.
Before all that, he’ll need to ride out the extraordinary intensity of the election cycle. It has broken candidates half his age.
For Republicans, his age is a central attack point. For Democrats it’s a genuine concern but it’s an advantage too.
His supporters point to his experience. He has more experience than any other serving politician in the country by virtue, simply, of his age.
Then there is his record. He beat Donald Trump in 2020. It’s possible, even probable, that Trump is his competition given the Republican Party’s addiction to him.
The gamble is that Trump can’t have gained support over the past couple of years given his indictment and everything in between. So, a re-run would secure Biden’s second term.
Even if Mr Biden won’t officially hold campaign events until next year, he is expected to continue to travel the country promoting his legislative accomplishments and using Congressional Republicans as his sparring partners until the Republican nominating race produces his general election opponent.
It comes months after Donald Trump officially launched his third bid for the US presidency in November 2022.
He can still run for office despite being the first current or former US president to be charged with a crime.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy for his alleged role in hush money payments to two women towards the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
