PHILADELPHIA: Establishment Democrats gathered this weekend in Philadelphia have one message for US President Joe Biden as he weighs running for a second term: Run, Joe, run.

“I am looking forward to supporting the president,” Sharif Street, head of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party, said at the party’s conference in this political battleground state that helped secure Biden’s victory against former President Donald Trump in 2020. While Biden, 80, is popular among party officialdom, he still faces slumping poll numbers and suggestions that he step aside after decades in politics and make room for a younger generation of leaders. Biden has said he intends to run for re-election but has not confirmed plans to do so. No Democratic challenger has declared their candidacy.

As Biden speaks to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) winter conference on Friday, his Republican rivals are emerging from bitter leadership fights at the Republican National Committee and the House of Representatives ahead of what some party leaders expect to be a crowded and bruising presidential primary season.

The Democrats’ relatively strong showing at the 2022 midterm elections have them enthusiastic about the president’s and the party’s prospects as the 2024 election season ramps up.

The hundreds of party faithful who gathered for the president’s address shouted “four more years,” as Biden took the stage.

Biden used the address to tout his administration’s accomplishments from passing signature legislation to tackle climate change and invest in the nation’s roads and bridges to appointing the nation’s first Black women to the US Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2023