Biden campaign previews Jan. 6-focused speech with new TV ad

As President Joe Biden prepares to deliver his first major re-election speech of 2024,marking the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, his warning about the fragility of America’s democracy will be front and center in the campaign's first ad to hit the airwaves this year.

The Biden campaign says the new 60-second spot highlights "the existential threat our country’s democracy faces from the MAGA extremism that now defines the Republican Party." It draws heavily from a prominent speech Biden made in Arizona last fall, when he said that the MAGA movement "does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy" and that it posed a threat to democratic institutions.

“All of us are being asked right now: What will we do to maintain our democracy?” Biden says in the ad, asking the American people to join him in “this cause.”

"History is watching. The world is watching. And most important, our children and grandchildren will hold us responsible," he says.

The ad also features remarks from a speech two years ago in Atlanta, where Biden said he and Vice President Kamala Harris have supported voting rights bills “since Day 1 of this administration.”

While Biden’s 2024 campaign launch video prominently featured scenes of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, the new ad is at least a momentary departure from what had been the main focus of the campaign’s paid advertising to date — selling his economic vision.

The Biden campaign itself says it is starting 2024 with a renewed focus on the significant stakes for American democracy on the ballot this year. There are more than 300 days until the general election, but Biden’s campaign is sharpening the democracy message as Republican voters will begin the process of determining