Biden says it is his ‘expectation’ to run again for president

25 March 2021, 21:54

Biden
Biden. Picture: PA

He would be 82 at the start of a second term.

President Joe Biden has said he is likely to seek re-election in 2024, but the 78-year-old Democrat left open the possibility of stepping aside after one term.

“My plan is to run for re-election. That’s my expectation,” He told reporters in a wide-ranging news conference, the first of his young presidency.

He later pushed back against a reporter’s suggestion that his 2024 plans were definite.

“I said, ‘That is my expectation’,” President Biden said.

“I’m a great respecter of fate. I’ve never been able to plan four-and-a-half, three-and-a-half years ahead for certain.”

Traditionally, there is no question as to whether a first-term president will run for re-election. Former president Donald Trump, for example, announced his plans to seek re-election on his first day in office.

But questions about President Biden’s 2024 intentions have swirled since even before his November victory — because of his age. At 78, he is the oldest person to assume the presidency.

In office only two months, his 2024 plans have a direct effect on his political strength.

If viewed as a one-term president, he would effectively be a lame-duck president with diminished sway at home and abroad as he pursues an aggressive agenda.

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House
President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House (Evan Vucci/AP)

Given a high-profile opportunity to clarify his status on Thursday, he sought to create the impression he was not a lame duck, but he avoided making any definite promises.

Should he run again, President Biden said he “would fully expect” to choose Vice President Kamala Harris to be his running mate again. “She’s doing a great job. She’s a great partner,” he said.

President Biden seemed exasperated when asked if he expected Mr Trump to run on the Republican side in four years.

“I don’t even think about it. I have no idea,” President Biden said, suggesting that Mr Trump may not even be part of the Republican Party.

It may seem early, but several Republican presidential prospects are already jockeying for position ahead of the GOP’s 2024 nomination fight.

US Election 2020
Donald Trump says he may run again (Niall Carson/PA)

On Friday, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo plans to deliver a speech in Iowa, which traditionally holds the nation’s first presidential primary contest.

Mr Trump has teased another run, but he would be 78 himself at the beginning of the next president’s term.

With a Democrat in the White House, there has been virtually no jockeying on the Democratic side so far.

Ms Harris would be the most likely successor should President Biden step aside, but she would probably face competition. So soon after taking office, however, Ms Harris’ allies have taken no steps to prepare for a presidential bid of her own.

Privately, many Democrats believe President Biden will not seek a second term. But publicly, there are few willing to question his intentions.

“He’s starting out by so far successfully improving our pandemic response both from a health perspective and economic perspective, which lays the groundwork for a successful term and re-election strategy,” said Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin. “He’s running.”

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Conan O’Brien

Conan O’Brien to receive Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in comedy

Rudy Giuliani gesturing as he speaks to reporters

Giuliani reaches settlement over home and baseball rings in defamation case

A composite photo of Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni and Ryan Reynolds

It Ends With Us director Baldoni sues star Lively and Reynolds for defamation

Police behind police tape in a snowy street in Slovkia

Student held in Slovakia after two people fatally stabbed at high school

US astronaut Suni Williams works outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk

Nasa’s stuck astronaut steps out on spacewalk after seven months in orbit

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials in Gwacheon, South Korea

Court upholds detention of impeached South Korean president

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu: No Cabinet meeting until Hamas backs down on ‘last-minute crisis’

Signage at TSMC headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC posts 57% surge in profits thanks to AI boom

Student protesters in Belgrade holding banners

Woman hurt as car ploughs into crowd of anti-government protesters in Serbia

Marine Le Pen

Crowds attend Paris memorial for far-right French leader Jean-Marie Le Pen

Pages from the United Healthcare website are displayed on a computer screen

UnitedHealth books better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit

Vatican Pope Falls

Pope hurts his arm in second fall in a month

A miner is transported on a stretcher by rescue workers

Death toll rises to 87 as stand-off between South African police and miners ends

Russia struck Kyiv with a drone during Sir Keir Starmer's visit

Putin’s forces launch drone attack on Kyiv during Sir Keir Starmer’s visit

BP sign outside a petrol station.

BP to cut 4,700 jobs in fresh wave of cost-cutting measures

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifting off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin launches new rocket on first test flight