Biden Announces 2024 Bid for Reelection & Latina Campaign Manager

President Joe Biden formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish this job” and extend the run of America’s oldest president for another four years.

Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic challengers. But he’s still set for a hard-fought struggle to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.

President Biden further plans to tap Julie Chavez Rodriguez as his 2024 re-election campaign manager.

Chavez Rodriguez, one of the most prominent Latinas in the administration and a granddaughter of the late labor leader Cesar Chavez, is a senior adviser to the president and the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. CBS News first reported that she would be named Biden’s campaign manager.

"It makes sense to bring someone with her bona fides to Biden’s campaign leadership team," said Maria Teresa Kumar, the president and CEO of Voto Latino, a nonprofit organization that seeks to boost Latino participation in elections.

Chavez Rodriguez was a deputy campaign manager on Biden's general election team in 2020 after a stint as traveling chief of staff on Vice President Kamala Harris' unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Before that, she worked in Harris' Senate office, as a senior official in the

Office of Public Engagement in President Barack Obama's White House and as the director of programs at the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation.

Democrats have long expected that most of the shots for his campaign will be called from the White House, where his coterie of top advisers — a group that includes Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti, Anita Dunn and 2020 campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley Dillon — are.

The long-awaited Biden campaign is ramping up at a time when former President Donald Trump has taken a commanding lead in polls of Republican primary contenders and potential candidates. Most national surveys show a tight race in a possible rematch.

Biden's approval rating stood at 41% in an NBC News poll released Sunday, his lowest since May. In the same survey, 70% of Americans — including 51% of Democrats — say they believe Biden should not run. Sixty percent of Americans, including a third of Republicans, say they believe the same about Trump.

Chavez Rodriguez would not be the first Latina to run a presidential campaign. But she would be the first Latina to win as campaign manager if she is appointed as expected and stays in the role and Biden is re-elected.

Biden’s announcement is roughly consistent with the timeline followed by thenPresident Barack Obama, who waited until April 2011 to declare for a second term and didn’t hold a reelection rally until May 2012. Trump launched his reelection bid on the day he was sworn in in 2017.

Lubbock City Council Confirms Courtney Paz as New City Secretary

On Tuesday, April 25, the Lubbock City Council voted to confirm Courtney Paz as the City's 17th City Secretary. She has served as interim City Secretary since March.

Paz joined the City of Lubbock as Deputy City Secretary in 2017, coordinating the boards and commissions process, serving as staff liaison for the Appointments Advisory Board, and project manager for the city's records management software, and day-to-day functions of the Office of the City Secretary.

She was previously employed by the South Plains Association of Governments (SPAG) Regional Services, and served as interim City Manager for the City of Lockney for nine months as part of SPAG's pilot Interim City Manager program.

Paz received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Public Administration from Texas Tech University.

Congratulations from Latino Lubbock Magazine!

BILINGUAL FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR SUCCESS: In partnership with local companies and organizations, Los Hermanos Familia held a workshop series to improve financial security in English and Spanish to individuals. The event drew about over 30 participants, each Tuesday during the month of April. Los Hermanos Familia believes that with guidance individuals and families can build confidence and understanding in their personal finances. A special thanks to title sponsor Lubbock National Bank. As well as Latino Lubbock Magazine, KEY, Primerica, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.