April 25, 2019

It’s Official: Joe Biden is Running for President

Here’s his video announcement.

Former Vice President Joe Biden formally announced a White House bid on Thursday, joining a crowded field of Democratic candidates running to unseat President Donald Trump. Biden launched his 2020 campaign with a video announcement, where he pointed to Trump’s remarks in the wake of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017—that there had been fine people on “both sides” of the violent march—as the moment he believed Trump posed a “threat to this nation” unlike any he had seen in his lifetime.

“I believe history will look back on four years of this president and all he embraces as an aberrant moment in time,” Biden continued. “But if we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation, who we are—and I cannot stand by and watch that happen.”

“Everything that has made America, America is at stake—that’s why I’m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.”

Biden’s decision to enter the race had been all but confirmed prior to Thursday’s announcement, with some speculation already having moved on to who would be tapped as his running mate. But the timing of his entrance comes at an unexpectedly fraught moment for the 76-year-old former vice president and longtime Delaware senator. According to a survey this week, Biden’s favorability among Democratic voters, who had previously placed him at the top of polls, appears to already be suffering.

The waning support is likely in part due to accusations by several women who came forward last month to accuse Biden of inappropriately touching them during various encounters that left them uncomfortable. Biden’s initial response to the allegations, which was to vehemently deny that he had ever acted inappropriately with women, drew criticism. To some progressives, the controversy highlighted their belief that Biden is not the right candidate for this political moment, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement, generational and gender shifts in the party, and the rise in popularity of more left-leaning policies.

As more women came forward, Biden released a more thoughtful video promising to be more respectful of people’s personal spaces. 

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that Biden is expected to follow the announcement with a campaign stop in Pittsburgh on Monday.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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