Joe Biden launches 2024 reelection bid after pushing Iowa from its first-in-the-nation perch

President Joe Biden is running for a second term, he announced Tuesday, launching a re-election campaign after a 2020 run that came up well short in Iowa and then urging the national Democratic Party to minimize the state's role in the presidential nomination process.

Biden told supporters to "finish the job" in a long-expected online video announcement, arguing that there remains a "battle for the soul of America." He formally enters the race as the overwhelming favorite to secure the Democratic nomination and will face the winner of a contentious Republican primary field that includes former President Donald Trump.

"Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms, cutting Social Security that you paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy," Biden said in his campaign video. "Dictating what health care decisions women can make. Banning books. And telling people who they can love."

Republicans eager to deny Biden a second term in the Oval Office have already begun to flock to Iowa, courting support ahead of caucuses that are still set to be first in the nation.

2024 Iowa caucuses: Where and when are presidential candidates visiting Iowa?

Trump, his 2020 opponent who remains the polling frontrunner among Republicans, said in a lengthy statement Monday evening that Biden was "the most corrupt president in American history," calling his stint "a calamitous and failed presidency." He continues to assert without evidence that the 2020 election was "rigged" for Biden over him.

Those assertions have been batted down repeatedly in court and have made Trump a target of investigation for his part in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

An array of GOP challengers, including former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have similarly criticized Biden's foreign policy and immigration policies, as well as rising prices and inflation during his tenure.

Scott said in a statement Tuesday that "another term would be a disaster for the American people."

Jeff Kaufmann, the chair of the Republican Party of Iowa, said in a statement Tuesday morning that "I could not ask for a better Democrat presidential nominee than Joe Biden."

"In between runaway inflationary (sic), a record-breaking border crisis, supply chain crises, skyrocketing crime, egregious family corruption, embarrassment on the world stage, and an outright snubbing of Iowa and the Midwest, Biden and the Democrats are pedal to the metal on making my and every other Republican's job easier ahead of 2024," Kaufmann said.

Biden, who has historically struggled politically in Iowa, is likely to place his focus during his re-election campaign elsewhere after Democrats bumped Iowa from the front of the primary calendar.

More: Who's running for president in 2024? Who's in, who's out, who's on the fence

Regardless, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party said in a statement Tuesday that the party "stands ready to help President Biden finish the job in 2024."

"President Biden has delivered results for our country in his first term — unleashing American manufacturing and clean energy, making historic investments in our infrastructure, and defending our fundamental freedoms both at home and around the world," party Chair Rita Hart said. "The contrast couldn’t be clearer. Iowans are already seeing up close Republicans race to out-MAGA each other and threaten our fundamental rights and freedoms by gutting Social Security and Medicare, banning books, and attacking a women’s right to choose."

For subscribers: Party chair Rita Hart has a plan to bring Iowa Democrats back to victory. Can it work?

Biden's previous struggles in Iowa likely to be moot with new Democratic primary calendar

After 2020 caucuses that were dominated in part by a malfunctioning party app and delayed returns, Biden emerged in fourth place in Iowa.

Only later, after winning South Carolina's primary and coalescing party support ahead of Super Tuesday, did he pull away from the pack to secure the Democratic nomination and later the presidency. South Carolina is now set to be the first state to hold a primary election for the party, expected to give Biden early momentum as the incumbent president.

It was not the first time Biden had failed to gain traction in Iowa.

When Barack Obama won the state in 2008 on the path to a general election victory, Biden — who would later become Obama's vice president — garnered just 0.9% of the vote. And two decades before, an address from Biden at the Iowa State Fair sparked reports that he had plagiarized in several speeches and led to him dropping out of the 1988 primary race.

Though Iowa Democrats continue to jockey for an early calendar slot in the primary calendar, Biden will likely spend the bulk of his time campaigning in toss-up states that decided the 2020 contest — including Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

He lost Iowa to Trump by 8 percentage points in 2020 after Trump won the state by more than 9 points in 2016.

From 2020: Donald Trump wins Iowa again, keeps state red on presidential map

Biden's 2024 primary opponents thus far include Marianne Williamson, a writer who also ran in 2020, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and son of the late U.S. senator.

The Iowa Poll from March shows Biden's approval rating is well underwater in the state — with 64% of respondents saying they disapprove of how he's handled his job as president and 30% saying they approve.

Those who disapprove include nearly all Republicans polled (93%) and a majority of independents (64%). Biden retains popular support among Iowa Democrats, with 75% saying they approve of his performance.

Democrats in Iowa took a beating in the 2022 midterm elections, as Republicans defied weaker results nationwide to sweep the state's congressional seats and take control of all but one statewide office.

Brianne Pfannenstiel and USA TODAY contributed reporting.

Galen Bacharier covers politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Joe Biden launches 2024 bid as Iowa moves out of Democratic focus