Donald Trump will probably throw his hat in the ring for the upcoming US presidential candidacy next week. But what about the current incumbent? Joe Biden would like to defend his seat in the Oval Office, but he does not decide alone.
US President Joe Biden says he wants to decide early next year whether to run for a second term in the 2024 presidential election. "My intention is to run again," Biden said at a White House press conference following the midterm elections. But that is “ultimately a family decision”. He was "in no hurry" to make a decision, the 79-year-old said. He assumes that after talks with his wife Jill, he will make a commitment early next year.
Biden's predecessor Donald Trump had recently made it increasingly clear that he was aiming to return to the White House and that he wanted to run in the presidential election in two years. The Republican has promised a "very big announcement" next Tuesday. Biden has said repeatedly that he wants to prevent the right-wing populist from returning to the presidency. However, the Democrat is struggling with poor poll numbers and is already the oldest president in US history. He will be 81 in the 2024 presidential election.
Recently, however, Biden was on the up again: his Democrats did better than expected in the midterm elections on Tuesday and were able to prevent a landslide victory for the Republicans. Although the Democrats are likely to lose their majority in the House of Representatives, they have a good chance of defending their majority in the Senate. The races are so close that US broadcasters did not announce a winner until Wednesday afternoon (local time).
The fact that the "red wave" expected by many Republicans did not materialize in the elections weakens ex-President Trump, who supported numerous conservative candidates during the election campaign. In Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who was reelected by a large majority on Tuesday, he also has an inner-party rival who could challenge him for the Republican presidential nomination. When asked Wednesday about the Trump-DeSantis rivalry, Biden said, "It's going to be fun to watch them compete."
