What has been hinted at for months is now official: Joe Biden wants to run for a second term as US President. The Democrat announced on Twitter that he would run for his party’s candidacy in next year’s elections. Every generation had a moment “when they had to stand up for democracy, to stand up for their fundamental freedoms, I think this is ours,” he wrote in the short message service. That’s why he wants to be re-elected as president, Biden said. “Let’s finish the job.”
In a video message, Biden said “freedom, personal freedom” is fundamental to “who we are as Americans.” However, there are extremists in the country who want to abolish fundamental freedoms. Biden’s words are accompanied by images of the storming of the US Capitol when supporters of ex-President Donald Trump 2021 violently entered the parliament building.
Political competitors are not mentioned by name in the video, but the two most promising Republicans can be seen: Trump and Florida’s arch-conservative governor Ron DeSantis. And right at the moment when Biden is warning that civil liberties are in jeopardy. The question, Biden said, is “whether we will have more or less peace, more rights or fewer” in the coming years.
Biden can point to a number of successes in his term of office so far, such as a major infrastructure program or the “Inflation Reduction Act”, in which he passed far-reaching climate protection measures. The US government has also lowered the cost of prescription drugs and boosted semiconductor production. The unemployment rate is at a historically good 3.5 percent. In the middle of last year he even managed to get at least a slight tightening of gun laws through Congress.
80-year-old Biden is already the oldest US President in history. At the end of a second term, he would be 86. Not a few think that’s too old. Many Democratic voters would also prefer to run with another candidate.
However, it does not look like that: So far there have been no serious democratic challengers and that is not likely to change. Biden’s former competitors Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg, now vice president and secretary of transportation, have not been able to use their positions in his government to distinguish themselves. And several prominent Democratic governors want to wait until 2028, when Biden no longer runs, to apply.
The Democrats would probably be quite happy with Trump as an opposing candidate
Should the Democrats make Biden their presidential candidate again, a familiar duel could be repeated. Because on the Republican side, ex-President Trump wants to run again. Polls see him well ahead of his biggest competitor within the party, DeSantis, who has not yet announced his application.
Should Trump prevail with the Republicans, the Democrats would probably be fine with that. The common opinion there is that Biden has a good chance against Trump, but that it could be difficult against DeSantis. Even some Republicans have had enough of Trump’s scandals, and the 44-year-old DeSantis can refer to his comparatively young age. Trump is 76 years old, only slightly younger than Biden.