The re-election campaign of President Biden is off to a slow start, months behind the pace of Barack Obama in 2012, the last president to win re-election.
Why it’s important Before his campaign team was prepared, Biden announced his bid for re-election. He is now working tirelessly to assemble a team that could compete with GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who declared his candidacy almost six months ago.
Only two full-time employees of “Biden 2024” have been made public. The campaign’s ability to make decisions is constrained because campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodrguez, a senior aide to Biden, won’t begin her new position for another two weeks.
Bloomberg initially reported that Biden’s team would report its fundraising for the first 48 hours after he announced the campaign on April 25 — but a week later, no totals had been announced. A campaign spokesperson told Axios that the plan was always to share fundraising numbers at the end of the second quarter.
The campaign is relying on the Democratic National Committee for personnel support and money. All of Biden’s ads and the announcement video were paid for by the DNC. In 2011, Obama’s re-election announcement was paid for by his campaign.
Between the lines: Biden’s team is well behind Obama’s schedule from 12 years ago. By January 2011, Obama’s team had announced its senior leadership, was scouting Chicago office space, and was actively courting donors.
Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, criss-crossed the country for months before the official launch to meet with donors and had secured large donation commitments by early March 2011, according to a Politico story at the time.
