President Joe Biden Announces Bid for Reelection, Sets Up Democratic Party as Bulwark Against Republican Authoritarianism

President Joe Biden announced his bid for reelection Tuesday morning, setting himself up as the Democratic Party’s best available bulwark against an increasingly authoritarian Republican Party led by Donald Trump. In a three-minute-long video announcing his candidacy released Tuesday morning, Biden said, “When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer. And we still are. This is not a time to be complacent.”

The president’s campaign also announced Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a senior White House official and former aide to then-Sen. Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential bid, will serve as Mr. Biden’s campaign manager. She was the top choice of the president, first lady and his senior-most advisers after an extensive interview process that involved several candidates across the party, according to two people familiar with the planning.

In addition, the campaign said Quentin Fulks, who served as campaign manager for Sen. Raphael Warnock’s closely-watched and successful Senate race in Georgia, will serve as deputy campaign manager. He will be responsible for overseeing the campaign’s day-to-day operations.

The Biden campaign also announced that it has hired former Obama White House staffer Jen O’Malley Dillon as its campaign manager. She was the deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and was the campaign manager for Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate race in Texas.

The Biden campaign is already off to a strong start, with the president’s senior-most advisers and the hiring of experienced campaign staff. With the president’s announcement of his bid for reelection, the race for the White House is officially underway.