US President, Joe Biden, has confirmed his intention to stand for a second term next year but stopped short of an official announcement.
“I plan on running… but we’re not prepared to announce it yet,” Mr Biden told the NBC network before an Easter event at the White House.
The incumbent was widely expected to run again, despite concerns among Democrats over his advancing years. Mr Biden would be 85 by the end of a second term.
US Vice President, Kamala Harris, confirmed last month that she would also run again.
Mr Biden’s campaign team are said to be still making final preparations around the launch of his re-election bid.
“The decision part is over, but he resents the pressure to have to announce what he’s already decided,” a source close to the campaign told NBC.
Several candidates have already declared their intention to contest the Democratic nomination, although none are expected to pose a significant threat to the incumbent.
Robert F Kennedy, nephew of former president John F Kennedy and son of US attorney general Bobby Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – has thrown his hat in the ring.
Mr Kennedy, 69, has fallen out with members of his own family over his anti-vaccine positions, having campaigned against vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Author and activist Marianne Williamson, 70, has also announced her candidacy having run previously in 2020.
Her platform for 2024 includes a pledge to pay reparations for slavery and to create a new department of peace that would seek to resolve foreign conflicts peacefully.
More candidates have declared on the Republican side, including former president Donald Trump, former US ambassador the the UN, Nikki Haley, the former governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is expected to join them.
