'Let's finish this job': US President Joe Biden launches 2024 re-election bid with new video
'This is not a time to be complacent, that is why I'm running for re-election' says Joe Biden as he bids for a second term in office. US Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
By Will Tullis, ITV News Washington DC Producer
US President Joe Biden has confirmed he will seek re-election to the position in 2024.
The 80-year-old Democrat released a campaign video on Tuesday to kickstart his bid for four more years in the White House.
In the three-minute long video, Mr Biden said: "Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There's nothing more important. Nothing more sacred.
"That's been the work of my first term, to fight for our democracy, to protect our rights, to make sure that everyone in this country is treated equally and that everyone is given a fair shot at making it."
President Biden used the video to campaign on his first term record, pitching to voters to give him another chance to fulfill promises he originally made during his first spell in the White House.
The pledges include a ban on assault-style weapons and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
"Let's finish this job. I know we can," he added.
He also continued to cast all Republicans by what he calls "ultra-MAGA" politics - a reference to former president Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan - regardless of whether his predecessor ends up on the 2024 ballot.
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President Biden told his supporters that "this is our moment" to "defend democracy, stand up for our personal freedoms, stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights".
Americans go to the polls in November 2024, to decide who gets their country's top job. President Biden is now almost certain to be the Democrat nominee, despite campaigns from self-help guru Marianne Williamson and lawyer Robert F Kennedy Jr.
The process is ongoing to nominate a Republican presidential candidate.
A repeat of the 2020 election could be on the horizon, with Mr Trump looking the most likely candidate to win the Republican nomination.
Reaction from Mr Trump to President Biden's announcement came before Tuesday's video was even released. On Monday night, Mr Trump criticised the Democrat's time in office.
"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 to our nation in just a few short years", he said in a post on Truth Social - a right-wing social media platform he set up.
"With such a calamitous and failed presidency, it is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for re-election", Mr Trump added.
Concerns had been raised over whether President Biden's age could prevent him from seeking re-election. The Pennsylvania-born career politician will be a few weeks shy of his 82nd birthday when the 2024 election comes around.
If he wins, he will be 86 by the time he leaves office and will become the oldest US president to have ever served.
President Biden will meet with Democrat donors on Friday ahead of an expensive campaign, in which his record on inflation and the economy will be under close scrutiny.
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