By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON President Joe Biden's re-election campaign attempted to set the tone for the battle to come on Thursday, saying the incumbent Democrat will have many roads to victory in 2024.
Despite polls showing tepid support for the 80-year-old president who would be 86 by the end of a second term, the Biden campaign saw reason for optimism in 2024.
The president will seek to repeat 2020 victories in two hotly contested states, Arizona and Georgia, Biden campaign manager Julie Rodriguez said in a memo released to news media.
In addition, Rodriguez said Biden will not concede Florida, which has gone Republican in recent elections and has produced two Republican presidential candidates this cycle, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Biden faces no major opposition on the road to winning his party's presidential nomination. The Republican campaign, on the other hand, is gathering steam with Trump leading a crowded field.
Democrats were buoyed by an unexpectedly strong showing in the 2022 midterm elections last November as voters voiced opposition to Republican attempts to scale back a woman's right to choose an abortion.
Rodriguez said based on the 2022 victories, "That means the president and vice president enter this cycle with a number of viable pathways to 270 electoral votes."
To be elected a candidate must win 270 of the state by state electoral votes.
Rodriguez said the Biden campaign will make early investments in closely fought states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as in Nevada and New Hampshire. All these states are on the Republicans' wish list for 2024.
"At the same time, we will protect recent Democratic gains in states like Arizona and Georgia, and look to expand the
map even further in states like North Carolina and Florida," she said.
She said the campaign will make major ad buys in key battleground including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, and North Carolina.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)