Biden Officially Clinches Democratic Nomination For President

President Joe Biden clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, clearing his path to a rematch with Donald Trump in November.

Biden’s victory in Georgia on Tuesday pushed him over the delegate threshold to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Biden will be formally named the party’s nominee this August at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The former president is also expected to clinch the number of delegates he needs for the Republican nomination this week.

Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee by securing a majority of the 3,933 pledged delegates available during the primary process. Maryland businessperson Jason Palmer is the only other individual to earn delegates to the convention so far, though 20 delegates will arrive as “uncommitted” following protest votes in Michigan, Minnesota and Hawaii against Biden’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas.

The Biden-Trump rematch is expected to be the most expensive and nastiest in modern political history, as two incumbent presidents face off for a second time this fall. Biden has consistently trailed Trump in national and battleground polling in recent months, but he holds a significant fundraising advantage over Trump.

"I am honored that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic Party across the country have put their faith in me once again to lead our party — and our country — in a moment when the threat Trump poses is greater than ever," Biden said in a statement from the campaign. “Voters now have a choice to make about the future of this country."

Following Biden’s State of the Union address last week, the Biden campaign kicked into overdrive last week with a six-week $30 million ad buy and stepped up Biden’s travel to swing states. He’s stumping in Wisconsin and Michigan this week, as well as adding a stop in North Carolina with Vice President Kamala Harris later this month.

The campaign also announced it would hire 350 staffers and open 100 field offices, a rapid expansion of its operational footprint that Democrats long worried wasn’t happening fast enough.

The Biden campaign has argued that once the general election clarified into a choice between Biden and Trump, the president would regain an advantage in the race. Trump, who is currently leading in public polling, faces a number of legal challenges that could also shake up the race, including a trial in New York that centers on hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels on March 25.

Biden, for his part, emphasized that choice in his speech before Congress, when his explicitly political rhetoric did not mention Trump by name but referred to his “predecessor” 13 times. He leaned heavily into their differences on abortion access, immigration policy and democracy, citing the Jan. 6 insurrection.

More evidence of their contrast-heavy strategy comes through in a new TV ad that was released over the weekend. Direct to camera, Biden ticks through his accomplishments, leading “the country through the Covid crisis” and “today, we have the strongest economy in the world,” while attacking Trump for taking “away the freedom of women to choose.”

“For four years, Donald Trump tried to pass an infrastructure law and he failed,” Biden continues in the ad. “I got it done. Now, we’re rebuilding America.”

The ad also tackles one of Biden’s biggest vulnerabilities head-on and with a bit of humor: “Look, I’m not a young guy. That’s no secret,” Biden says in the ad. “But here’s the deal. I understand how to get things done for the American people.”

Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, are the oldest presidential nominees in history. But their advanced age has presented more of a challenge for Biden with voters than it has for Trump, according to public polling.

For example, a majority of voters who backed Biden in 2020 now say that he’s too old to lead the country effectively, a New York Times/Siena College poll found last week. Just 15 percent of voters who backed Trump in 2020 said the former president was too old to be effective in a potential second term.