By Mike Memoli —NBC News
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, will begin the election year on Friday by focusing directly on what he sees as the threat to democracy posed by former Republican President Donald Trump. It's a return to his "home base," according to his advisers, that demonstrates the urgency his campaign sees in addressing his likely opponent in the November election.
Biden will deliver his first campaign speech of the year — in just the third public campaign event since announcing his reelection bid in April — near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where George Washington and the Continental Army endured a brutal winter during the Revolutionary War.
Invoking Washington's words about the sacrifices of its soldiers, Biden plans to say that the ongoing fight for democracy remains a "sacred cause," according to a senior adviser.
The speech is meant to mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Biden will ask Americans to join him in rejecting political violence and attacks on fundamental freedoms, the adviser said.
[Former Capitol Police Officer Launches Congressional Bid in Maryland District]
Rioters storm the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file
"When important events happen in the history of this country, the upcoming national elections become a moment when the people of that country make a judgment about it. We believe that in 2024, [January 6] will be that time," d
Biden launched his Trump-centric 2020 campaign, portraying the race as a battle for the "soul of the nation." But as he fell behind in the polls, Democrats began to worry more and more that he is spending too much time trying to make a failed economic pitch instead of focusing on Trump and his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Biden will invoke Washington not only for his leadership in Valley Forge but also for the example he set. The adviser noted that Washington voluntarily resigned from its military commission before becoming president and decided not to seek a third term to ensure the continuity of the fledgling American democracy.
"You don't use every possible means to stay in power. And in the United States, the power resides with the people," the adviser added.
[The Supreme Court's complex decision on Trump is existential for democracy]
The final presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on Oct. 22, 2020.SOPA Images/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
Biden's advisers say the speech is an "opening salvo" for 2024 and that his focus on Trump is "a sharpening, not a shift," in strategy after months in which paid advertising and public events have focused on economic messaging.
Although Biden's close allies have suggested that a firmer approach to Trump should be a more regular part of his public messaging, the campaign believes swing voters will likely be put off by aggressive anti-Trump messaging so early in the race.
But Friday's speech is the kind of moment the campaign appears to be gearing up for: It marks the anniversary of the day a mob of Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers were in the final procedural step to formalize Biden's victory.
"Our campaign believes it is a moral obligation to paint a picture of the threat that Donald Trump and the Republican Party pose to America," his deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, said Wednesday on sMSNBC.
Trump's overwhelming lead in the Republican primary campaign is another factor determining the timing of Biden's speech, according to Biden campaign officials, just days before the first nomination contest.
Now more voters are tuning in to the race, another Biden adviser said, so it's the right time for the president to return to a message that was part of his inaugural video in April, which included footage of the Jan. 6 attack.
The senior adviser noted that Biden faced criticism for a couple of major speeches on democracy and political violence he delivered ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, but said the results showed it can be a motivating issue. And other campaign officials have said Republican-leaning voters, including some who backed Trump four years ago, are open to voting for Biden this year, as long as Trump becomes the nominee.
Another Biden adviser said, "The president fundamentally thinks that the vast majority of Americans still believe that the sacred cause of this country is democracy, and that's true regardless of party affiliation in general."
Biden has had no public events since returning from a vacation in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands to fine-tune and rehearse the speech, underscoring its importance in setting the tone for next year, according to an official familiar with the planning.