US President Joe Biden has formally announced he is running for re-election in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to "finish the job".
US President Joe Biden says he will seek a second White House term in 2024, a decision that will test whether Americans are ready to give the 80-year-old Democrat another four years in office.
Biden made his announcement in a slickly produced video released by his new campaign team, in which he declares it is his job to defend American democracy.
"When I ran for president four years ago, I said we're in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are," he said.
"This is not a time to be complacent. That's why I'm running for re-election."Biden said.
Biden's age makes his re-election bid a historic and risky gamble for the Democratic Party, which faces a tough election map to hold the Senate in 2024 and is the minority in the House of Representatives now.
Biden's approval ratings were stuck at just 39 per cent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on April 19 and there are steep concerns about his age among some Americans; he would be 86 by the end of a prospective second term, almost a decade higher than the average US male's life expectancy.
Biden will be joined in his 2024 quest by his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden's entry into the race follows Trump's announcement in November that he would seek a second term after losing the 2020 contest to Biden.
In a statement about Biden's candidacy, Trump criticised the president over his record on immigration, inflation, and the US pullout from Afghanistan.
"American families are being decimated by the worst inflation in half a century. Banks are failing,"
"We have surrendered our energy independence, just like we surrendered in Afghanistan." Trump said on his social media platform.
Biden, running as an incumbent, is unlikely to face much competition from inside his party. No senior Democrats have shown signs of challenging him and he has compiled a board of rising-star Democrats to advise his campaign, including governors JB Pritzker of Illinois and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
Potential and declared Republican presidential candidates have begun framing the 2024 election around cutting back government spending amid still-high inflation, restricting abortion, crime in Democratic-run cities and illegal immigration.
The two leading Republican contenders, Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, want to limit the access of trans children to sports teams and gender-affirming medical care, and restrict how schools teach LGBTQ+ issues and America's history of slavery and racial disparities.
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