Donald Trump set to announce 2024 presidential bid after US midterms

Trump poised to announce his candidacy six days after US midterms, when Democrats are expected to lose control of congress to a group of Republicans hand-picked by him.

Donald Trump announcing his bid for the presidency back in the 2016 presidential race during an event at the Trump Tower in New York City.

Donald Trump is set to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election on November 14, six days after US midterm elections in which Joe Biden’s Democrats are expected to lose control of congress to a group of Republicans largely hand-picked by the former president.

After months of teasing about a third tilt at the highest office in the land Mr Trump has cleared his calendar for a mid-November announcement, according to Axios and other reports that cite unnamed sources close to the former president.

“I will very, very, very probably do it again, OK? Very, very, very probably. Get ready. That’s all I’m telling you. Very soon,” Mr Trump himself said at a rally for supporters at Siox City, Iowa on Thursday night (Friday AEDT), adding further fuel to the speculation.

Betting markets on Friday pointed to a 70 per cent chance that the former president would announce a bid for the presidency before 2023, up from 35 per cent two days earlier.

Australian journalist Jonathan Swan, one of Axios’s top reporters, broke the news on Friday, suggesting mid November would see a “multi-day series of events” according to three well-placed sources, based around Mr Trump’s candidacy.

“Trump plans to surf the GOP‘s expected post-midterm euphoria to build momentum for his own effort to retake the White House,” Mr Swan wrote. “Allies are blocking off days in their calendars for the week after the midterms — and preparing to travel”.

Republican congressional candidates pushed by Mr Trump in critical battleground states Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and elsewhere, earlier written off over the northern summer as political mistakes, now appear set to win their various congressional and senate races, in what would be a vindication for Mr Trump.

A declaration of candidacy for election triggers US campaign finance laws that put restrictions on how money can be acquired and spent.

Speculation of Trump 2.0 came as the White House said President Biden would travel to Illinois and New York for final campaign events, both strongly Democrat states.

Separately, television queen and America’s richest black woman, Oprah Winfrey, weighed into Pennsylvania’s closely fought senate race, declaring she would vote for stroke-survivor an Democrat John Fetterman “for many reasons” without elaborating on them.

Former president Barack Obama, who has embarked on a series of last-minute rallies in battleground states to shore up the Democrat base, has taken to Chinese-owned TikTok to encourage ‘Gen Z’, a core constituency for the ruling party, to vote, part of an increase trend among Democrats.

https://www.tiktok.com/discover/under-the-desk-obama

“Here’s the thing: you can stay [under the desk] for now, but when it comes time for voting you’re going to have to get up,” Mr Obama said in the video, posted Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT).

Veteran Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke, in his second campaign to unseat Republican Greg Abbott to claim the second most powerful governorship in the US, posted a video of himself dancing on Tuesday with a young Latina woman.

AAAAHHHH pic.twitter.com/474quYDkYZ

— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) November 3, 2022