US President Joe Biden’s team is moving to tap top Democratic allies and some people who were once possible rivals as key representatives of his expected re-election bid.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) hosts a “National Advisory Council” that includes up-and-coming politicians known for their own bids, including governors JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Phil Murphy of New Jersey. For the top job, however, Democrats remained on the sidelines after hanging on to their Senate majority in the 2022 midterm elections.
The move to sign off on high-profile spokesmen from White House political officials and other allies, typical of parties moving into campaign season frenzy, shows Biden is moving toward a formal re-election announcement in April, though the date could slip, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Biden’s team is also taking other steps, including thinking through possible options for a campaign manager for the host city for the 2024 party convention, where Biden will be formally nominated. Chicago and Atlanta were seen by Democratic officials as primary contenders for the convention, which was held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Campaign strategy is expected to be set by the same inner circle that guided Biden’s 2020 run against former Republican President Donald Trump, including his eventual 2020 campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon.
But that group has struggled to develop a short list of potential campaign managers for 2024 as they look for a credible operator outside their ranks who has experience winning a statewide campaign in a competitive state, among various other qualifications.
“They are looking for a unicorn,” said a party adviser.
The new advisory board is used to demonstrate unity in the party behind the candidate, travel around the country to campaign and do television interviews on behalf of the party and ultimately the candidate. News that the group was being assembled was first reported by the Washington Post.
Biden, who turned 80 in November, is the oldest president to hold office. Recent polls show aging leaders are a concern for Americans in general, and Biden’s age in particular worries Democratic voters. But the president’s aides are shrugging off polls that show doubts about his age as irrelevant at this point in the race.
No major challengers to Biden have emerged on the Democratic side, although self-help guru Marianne Williamson is expected to formally announce on Saturday that she is mounting a long-shot bid in the primary after Biden did so in a crowded field. emerged victorious in 2020.
In the Republican Party, Trump is seeking a second term and a set of challengers are laying the groundwork for his campaigns.
In the absence of a formal re-election announcement, the White House continues to book Biden in campaign-style appearances around the country. On Monday, Biden is expected to speak with the International Association of Fire Fighters, the first major labor group to endorse him ahead of the 2020 campaign.
Biden’s public approval rating in a Reuters/Ipsos poll last month was just 41%. That’s as close to the lowest point of Trump’s presidency as there has been at the same time in his administration.
Source: Reuters
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