According to the New York Times, President Joe Biden has sent a “last-minute invite” to his most important supporters to visit the White House as he gets ready to declare his 2024 presidential candidacy.
Some of Biden’s biggest funders “was given a last-minute invite to make the trip to Washington next week to visit Mr. Biden as he prepares to launch a 2024 campaign,” in accordance to the Times, as Biden has been covertly putting things in position for another announcement.
It is not yet known, though, when he will make a formal declaration. Initially, advisors predicted the president was going to make the announcement at the time of the State of the Union address in February, but since then, sources have suggested he may postpone it until the fall.
Since campaigns are required to declare their fundraising totals every three months, doing so at the beginning of the quarter can help them raise more money. So, a candidate has three months to demonstrate their capacity for fundraising. But by delaying, Biden is forcing potential employees to make their own arrangements while leaving them in the dark.
The Times revealed that the invites, which were given out by phone rather than email, were sent to Biden’s “biggest bundlers and donors,” who contributed more than a million dollars to his campaign during the previous cycle. Over a dozen people claim that the event is being viewed more as a tactic to mobilize contributors than as a means of raising money.
Notably, the Times noted that the event’s specifics are still being worked out, but that they would most likely involve a meeting with Biden outside of the White House on Friday night and maybe a Saturday morning briefing from his advisers.
Others have declared their candidacy for reelection while Biden has not yet done so.
So far, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced he would run against Biden, and Marianne Williamson, a writer and “spiritual thought leader” who campaigned for president as a Democrat in 2020, has said she will as well.