PHILADELPHIA – President Biden was serenaded with chants of “four more years” multiple times on Friday evening as he addressed a partisan audience of Democratic officials and activists gathered at a major party meeting.
And the president dropped more hints that a 2024 re-election announcement would likely be coming in the near future.
“We’re just getting started,” Biden told a boisterous crowd gathered in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting. “I intend to get…more done.”
“Let me ask you a simple question – are you with me?” the president asked the crowd. The question instantly elicited cheers and another round of “four more years” chants.
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President Joe Biden speaks at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Biden has repeatedly said for months that he intends to seek a second term in the White House, but he’s yet to make any formal announcements. On Thursday, the president smiled at a ceremony for outgoing White House chief of staff Ron Klain as the longtime Biden aide said “I look forward to being on your side when you run for president in 2024.”
The president’s appearance in Philadelphia comes ahead of next week’s State of the Union address. Sources in the president’s political orbit have told Fox News that any announcement regarding a Biden 2024 campaign would not come until after the Feb. 7th address.
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Biden’s trip to Philadelphia came hours after the Labor Department’s monthly jobless report showed the unemployment level dropping to its lowest level in more than half a century.
“As of this month, we’ve created 12 million new jobs. We’ve created more new jobs in two years than any president did in their entire term,” Biden touted.
And pointing to his legislative victories the past two years, Biden emphasized that “we’re running on our record.”
President Biden shakes hands of supporters along the rope line, after addressing the crowd at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 3, 2023 (Fox News)
Vice President Kamala Harris, addressing the crowd ahead of Biden, spotlighted that “Democrats – we are delivering. Actually, we are delivering big time” and touted that “we have momentum.”
Republicans disagree.
“The Biden-Harris economic agenda has caused nothing but pain and misery for American families,” Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel argued in a statement ahead of the president’s arrival in Philadelphia.
McDaniel charged that “their failed policies have robbed workers of their hard-earned money and forced Americans to take a pay cut. Inflation has outpaced wages for 21 straight months and Democrats only want to waste trillions more in taxpayer dollars. American families are struggling to keep up with the Biden pay cut and Democrats don’t seem to care.”
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Biden, in his speech, acknowledged the gains the GOP’s made in recent election cycles with working class Americans, thanks in part to populist policies pushed by former President Donald Trump.
“For those of you over 40, did you ever think we’d be in a situation where blue-collar workers are voting Republican…they think we’ve forgotten about them. They think we don’t care,” the president said.
The RNC highlighted the president’s comments on social media.
But Biden, pointing to a surge in new manufacturing jobs, said “we’re turning it around.”
Biden’s standing with Americans remains well underwater. His approval ratings sank into negative territory in the autumn of 2021 and have yet to bounce back into positive territory. But the president’s lackluster poll numbers – fueled in part by soaring inflation the past year and a half – didn’t hurt his party in November’s midterm elections, when Democrats outperformed expectations in what many pundits predicted would be a red wave election.
Now, as he appears to inch closer to announcing a re-election campaign, Democrats appear mostly united around the 80-year-old Biden, who made history in 2020 as the oldest person elected president in American history.
“Democrats had a pretty good year flying the Biden banner over their heads. This is a guy who seems fired up. He seems ready to keep it going and I see no groundswell of opposition within the Democratic Party. I think Democrats are actually excited to stand behind him,” DNC member Mo Elleithee told Fox News.
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And Elleithee predicted that Biden wouldn’t face any serious primary threat from the party’s left flank.
“I think he has done a fantastic job navigating the treacherous waters of the Democratic coalition. When you are a coalition not everyone is going to be happy all the time. And he’s done a good job of navigating those waters,” Elleithee argued. “I don’t think you going to see a heavy Marianne Williamson contingent at this meeting. I think this is a party that is unified behind this president.”
