Joe Biden seeks second term as President of the United States.

President Biden on the campaign trail in 2020.

Joe Biden, the current United States President, has announced that he will be running for re-election. This move by Mr. Biden sets the stage for a potential rematch with the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in November 2024.

The Democrat who was expected to seek a second four-year term, launched his campaign in a video on Tuesday (April 25, 2023).

In the video, he said this was a pivotal time in American history where freedoms and rights were under threat. "This is not a time to be complacent," he said. "That's why I'm running". The catchphrase that many thought would be the centrepoint of Mr. Biden's campaign, "let's finish the job", did not make an appearance until the very end of the video. 

Biden, who is 80 years old, is the oldest president in US history and is likely to face questions about his age throughout the campaign. He will be 86 after finishing a second full term in 2029. V.P., Kamala Harris, 58, will once again be his running mate.

Addressing this matter earlier this year, he said, "It's legitimate for people to raise issues about my age... the only thing I can say is, watch me."

Mr Biden faced off against Mr Trump in 2020, defeating the Republican after promising to "restore the soul of the United States".

"When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America - and we still are," President Biden said in the three-minute announcement video, which showed the president meeting a diverse group of Americans.

It also features images of the January 6 (2021) attack on the US Capitol, when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to overturn his loss to Mr. Biden.

Former President Trump had already launched his bid for the presidency, raising the prospect that both men will again face-off on 5 November 2024. They are considered favorites to win their political party nominations, although Mr. Trump could face solid competition from Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis.

"You could take the five worst presidents in American history, and put them together, and they would not have done the damage Joe Biden has done," Mr Trump said in a statement on Monday night.

President Biden had given early indications that he had plans to run for re-election with the main question being when he would make the announcement. After spending the weekend with aides at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, he opted to launch his campaign on the fourth anniversary of his 2020 announcement.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a senior White House adviser, will serve as his campaign manager.

Though there are two other candidates for the Democratic nomination --bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr. --they are seen as no real threat to Biden's path to the presidency.

 
Recent polls however suggest that his decision to run is a divisive one both within the party and nationally. An NBC News poll over the weekend found that 70% of Americans, and just over half of Democrats, believe he should not run again.

Forty-eight per cent, the majority of people who said Mr Biden should not run, gave his age as a "major concern".

His approval ratings remain negative by a significant margin but President Biden's hopes of re-election were boosted late last year when his party performed better than expected in the midterm elections. They currently dominate the Senate after the 2022 mid-terms.

Biden advisers have said he sees an advantage in drawing a contrast between his role governing the nation while his potential Republican opponents engage in partisan campaigning or - in Mr Trump's case - deal with criminal investigations.

The Republican Party responded to his announcement by describing Mr Biden as "out-of-touch" for thinking he deserves to be re-elected after "creating crisis after crisis" over the last four years.

The party's national committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said her party was united behind beating him in 2024, adding that US citizens were "counting down the days until they can send Biden packing".

As is the new tradition in American presidential politics, Joe Biden announced his White House bid in a pre-recorded video that tightly controls the opening message of the new campaign.

The first images are of the US Capitol, shrouded in tear gas, and the storming in of Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6. The next is of an abortion rights protester at a rally outside the Supreme Court.

From there, Mr Biden quickly tries to claim the high ground on defending the personal freedoms of Americans, an issue his opponents, the Republicans claim the President and the Democrats are a threat to.

He denounces "Maga Republicans" while showing short clips of Georgia Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Green, Donald Trump and Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis. While re-election campaigns are usually a referendum on the incumbent, in this video, Biden instead focuses the viewer on the potential threat to their freedom, if the right choice is not made. He paints himself as the upholder and defender of those rights. 

This is not a heart-warming tribute to four years of Mr. Biden's presidency but a grave warning of conflict and danger.