Four more years: Biden unveils reelection plan

Distinguishing himself from what he calls MAGA extremists who want to take away America's freedoms, President Joe Biden kicked off his campaign Tuesday for a second term in 2024 office.

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we’re in a battle for the soul of America and we still are,” he said in a 3-minute video posted this morning to Twitter. “The question we’re facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer.” 

Biden, 80, has been an elected member of the federal government for all but four years since 1973. He will be 86 at the start of second term but he was already the oldest president in U.S. history when he was first inaugurated in 2021.

Opening the video against images of the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection and protests about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Biden warns of the attack on education and civil rights from Republican opponents.

The message from Biden amplifies one that he has honed in recent weeks, contrasting his administration against far-right GOP rhetoric. Biden did not call out his predecessor, former President Donald Trump by name, but Trump's “Make America Great Again” slogan is prominent. 

In broad strokes about the achievements of his own administration, Biden says he has expanded civil rights and fought “to make sure that everyone in this country is treated equally and that everyone is given a fair shot at making it.” Several pictures of his Supreme Court appointee, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, appear in the video as well.

Economic trends, including persistent and widespread inflation, are likely to be a top concern for voters in the coming election. Biden will also likely face tough questions about his administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Biden's plan to seek reelection has been widely reported for months and his announcement came four years to the day from when he entered the 2020 election. Biden had said in that original video he was inspired to run after the deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Although he never visited the city during the campaign, he took the state's 13 electoral votes in the election.

Unless she mounts her own bid for the presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris will likely be Biden’s running mate if he secures the Democratic nomination. No incumbent president has chosen a different running mate in their reelection campaign since Franklin Roosevelt, who had a different vice presidential candidate in 1936, 1940 and 1944. 

Two Democrats have already announced their intention to challenge Biden in a primary: author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Biden maintains a clear polling advantage, with an average of 34.5% between Feb. 6 and April 19, according to RealClearPolitics.

No sitting president has lost a primary contest, although Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out of the race after facing a strong challenger early in voting.

Five candidates have announced their campaigns for the Republican nomination: Trump, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and radio host Larry Elder.

Trump is by far the frontrunner, with a polling average of 52.9% between March 29 and April 19, according to RealClearPolitics. 

The Libertarian Party, which received ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the past two presidential elections, has five candidates seeking its nomination. The party received 3.28% of the national vote in 2016 and 1.18% in 2020.