On Sunday, President Joe Biden will turn 80, making him the oldest octogenarian to hold the highest office in the United States.
Biden’s birthday comes as the president faces speculation about whether he will run for reelection and worries about whether he is too elderly to serve another term.
According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the president is spending his birthday in Washington with a breakfast given by first lady Jill Biden. Members of Biden’s family, who are already in town for his granddaughter’s wedding at the White House on Saturday, are likely to attend.
According to two individuals involved with the preparations, the wedding date was not by chance, noting that the “age problem” is never something Biden likes to bring up.
The president has political momentum on his side, having been able to preserve a Democratic majority in the Senate and prevent the historical political tides of a resounding Republican wave in Congress. There was also his much younger predecessor, Donald Trump, who earned tepid political support when he declared his recent decision to run for president in 2024.
However, Biden has been unable to dispel voters’ fears about his age, with rhetorical gaffes and actual stumbles at times fueling questions about his health and mental acuity.
If Biden runs and wins reelection, he will be an astounding 86 years old by the end of his second term. In comparison, some of the oldest living presidents, such as Donald Trump, departed office at 74, while Ronald Reagan left office after two terms at the age of 77.
For his part, the president insists that people worried about his age should look at his record of accomplishments since taking office.
“Well, they’re concerned about whether or not I can get anything done. Look what I’ve gotten done,” Biden said in an interview in October.“Name me a president in recent history that’s gotten done as much as I have in their first two years.”
Last month, Biden stated that while he has not formally decided to seek reelection in 2024, it is his “intention” to do so. But he’s long stated that it’s a decision that he and his family will make together. And Saturday’s wedding serves as a launch for the Bidens to begin serious deliberations about whether their patriarch should run for a second term.
The president isn’t the only Washington figure under demands to resign. On the opposite end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Nancy Pelosi, 82, recently announced her intention to resign as House speaker, praising Democrats for bringing in a new generation of leadership.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 80, faced his first competition in 15 years to lead the Republican conference, albeit he was defeated.