United States: Will Joe Biden run for re-election in 2024?

United States President Joe Biden is keen to run for re-election in 2024 alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, ratified the White House this week, and in that case, he would be the first octogenarian to compete for the presidency representing one of the two largest political parties, in addition to having already taken office as the most longevity of the country's history.

Biden, who was Barack Obama's vice president twice -between 2009 and 2017-, is currently 79 years old. Should he run and win the 2024 elections, when he takes office in January 2025 he would be 82 years old .

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"The President fully intends, as he stated earlier, to run for re-election and to run for re-election with Vice President Harris on the ticket, as a partner" said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki last Wednesday at a press conference.

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KAMALA TO THE SUPREME COURT?

The spokeswoman responded in this way to journalists who were asking if the president plans to nominate Harris, a lawyer by profession, as a Supreme Court judge b>, given that Judge Stephen Breyer will retire in mid-2022 and that Biden plans to nominate an African-American woman in his place.

While Psaki said he was not in a position to name possible candidates to replace the justice on the highest court, he implicitly ruled out Harris, reiterating that Joe Biden plans to seek re-election with the same formula that led him to the White House.

"My plan is to run for re-election, that is my expectation", Biden had already said several times since he took office.

THE STATE OF HEALTH AND TRUMP

Last December, in an interview with ABC, he confirmed that he will run again in the next elections if his health does not deteriorate. And after a previous intense campaign in which his rival Donald Trump harassed him with comments about his old age, he was confident when asked if he would run for the Republican again.

"Why wouldn't I run against Donald Trump for candidate?" Biden said. "That would increase the prospects of competing." Trump has already suggested that he would run in the 2024 election campaign, and by then he would be 78 years old.

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WHY TALK ABOUT RE-ELECTION WITH 3 YEARS TO GO?

For now, the US media analyzed what motivates Biden to spread the word that he wants to run again, when there are almost three full years to go before he finish his term.

A key issue is that Biden's biggest political problem right now is declining support and enthusiasm among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. The president is in trouble with young voters, a group that was instrumental in his victory in the 2020 general election.

In his first year in office, he gradually lost recognition and needed to recover lost ground, and it was also a disappointing year for the Democrats themselves. But if he now admits he won't run or "won't fight", the fissures in his power base would only accelerate.

In addition, he needs to protect Kamala Harris who, as his vice, is his heir. But that doesn't mean she's locked in for the 2024 presidential nomination if Biden decides not to run. For now, Harris is ideologically well positioned to unify the Democrats by presenting herself as Biden's preferred successor, though she still lacks popularity.