WASHINGTON (AP) — Defiant President Joe Biden He vowed to seek reelection on Wednesday. Increasing pressure from Democrats retreat after disastrous results Debate Performance It raised questions about whether he was prepared to continue campaigning, let alone win in November.
But the signs were growing increasingly ominous for the president. Two Democratic senators called on Biden to drop out of the race, and a key ally warned that the party was Choose someone elseAnd senior aides said they believed the prime minister had just days to show he was up to the challenge before unrest within his party exploded.
“I want to say this as clearly as I can, as simply as I can, as bluntly as I can: I’m running. No one’s trying to get rid of me,” Biden said on a conference call with his reelection campaign staff. “I’m not resigning. I’m going to fight this campaign to the end, and we’re going to win.”
In private conversations, Biden focused on course recovery from last Thursday’s rocky debate in Atlanta and the threat he sees former President Donald Trump posing to the country as he delves into what went wrong and takes responsibility for his performance.
“We had a direct, frank and calm discussion about the debate, what happened and why it wasn’t his best night, his best debate,” Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, who met with Biden on Tuesday, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “He was looking for advice. He was looking for serious input and commentary on what he needs to do to regain trust and support and what the best path forward is.”
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Senator Coons, the president’s closest aide in Congress, said Biden clearly understands the urgency, difficulty and importance of the election, and that the senator has advised the president to hold more unscripted, open-ended events to restore confidence in his candidacy. The two also discussed Biden’s schedule and how it will affect his political activities, especially as he must balance important national commitments, including the NATO summit in Washington next week.
Biden has taken a number of steps to try to salvage his reelection bid, including surprise appearances with campaign aides, private conversations with senior lawmakers and weekend trips. Network TV InterviewBut he faced serious signs that his support was rapidly eroding among Congress and other allies.
Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona told the New York Times that he would support Biden as long as he was the nominee, but that this was an “opportunity to look elsewhere” and that what Biden “needs to do is take responsibility for keeping the seat, and part of that responsibility is to withdraw from this race.”
Senior advisers say they believe Biden, 81, has just days left to convincingly show he’s fit for the presidency before party panic over his debate performance and anger over its handling erupts, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy freely. After reviewing the polls and extensive media coverage, the president acknowledges the urgency of the task but is confident he can do so in the coming days and insists he has no plans to withdraw from the race, they said.
Biden met for more than an hour Wednesday night, both in person and virtually, with more than 20 Democratic governors at the White House. After the meeting, the governors said the conversation had been “candid” and that they supported Biden despite concerns about a Trump victory in November.
“The president is our nominee. The president is the leader of our party,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who added that during the meeting Biden “has been very clear that he is in this race to win.”
Despite these reassuring comments, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, a major Democratic donor, also called on the president to drop out of the race, saying, “Biden needs to step aside and allow strong Democratic leadership to defeat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” as first reported by The New York Times.
And it came after Rep. Jim Clyburn, a longtime friend and confidant of Biden’s, said he supports holding a “mini-primary” in the run-up to next month’s Democratic National Convention if Biden drops out of the race. Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, floated the idea that would lay the groundwork for delegates to select an alternative during the party’s virtual roll call scheduled ahead of a more formal party convention, which is set to begin Aug. 19 in Chicago.
Clyburn told CNN: Vice President Kamala HarrisThe governor and other interested parties could also weigh in on the race. “It should be fair for everyone.”
Clyburn, a veteran lawmaker and former member of House leadership, said he had never personally seen the president behave in such a way during last week’s debate and called it “alarming.”
And while other Democratic allies have remained silent since Thursday’s debate, there has been growing private frustration over the campaign’s response to Biden’s dismal debate performance at a crucial time in the campaign, particularly his waiting days to engage in direct damage control with senior members of his own party.
The lack of response is worse than the debate performance itself, said a Democratic aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss party dynamics frankly, saying Biden’s allies want to see him directly address concerns about his fitness in front of reporters and voters.
But most Democrats are taking a wait-and-see approach to Biden, hoping to get a better idea of how the situation unfolds through new polls and Biden’s upcoming ABC News interview, according to Democratic lawmakers who spoke candidly about the president on the condition of anonymity.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, who called on Biden to drop out of the race this week, sought support from other Democrats but was unable to get anyone to back him up and ultimately issued the statement himself, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But some believed the waiting period would end soon if Biden did not step up his outreach to Congress or prove he was fit for the job.
Some have suggested Harris has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Biden if he were to withdraw, but people involved in private discussions acknowledge it is unlikely that governors would drop out of the race. Gavin Newsom California and Gretchen Whitmer Michigan Sen. Harris remains a viable alternative, but some party insiders see her as the best candidate to unify the party quickly and avoid a confusing and divisive convention fight.
As pressure mounted around Biden, he and Harris made a surprise appearance on a conference call with his entire re-election campaign staff to deliver a pep talk. They stressed how important it was to beat front-runner Trump in November’s election and reverted to Biden’s post-debate pledge to get back up if he was defeated.
“Just as we beat Donald Trump in 2020, we’re going to win again in 2024,” Biden said, telling attendees he wouldn’t be backed down from the race. Harris added: “We’re not going to back down. We’re going to follow the president’s lead. We’re going to fight, and we’re going to win.”
Asked at a news conference whether Biden would consider resigning, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “absolutely not.”
Regarding Biden continuing to seek a second term, Jean-Pierre said, “There’s nothing I can say that would change the president’s mind.”
Still, Democrats are not satisfied with the explanations of Biden’s debate performance by White House staff and the president himself, and some party members have deeper frustrations, feeling Biden should have responded sooner to questions about his poor debate performance and that staying on the debate stage put Democrats in a difficult position. race.
The Leadership Now Project, a group of business executives, academics and thought leaders, said in a letter that the “threat of Trump’s reelection” is great enough that Biden should “pass the baton of this year’s presidential nomination to the next generation of highly qualified Democrats.”
The Trump campaign released a statement saying, “Every Democrat now calling on the President to resign was once a Biden supporter.”
Two voter polls taken after last week’s debate gave Trump a slight lead over Biden. Conducted by SSRS for CNNAccording to a survey by the IRS, three-quarters of voters – including more than half of Democrats – say they think someone other than Biden is likely to win the November presidential election.
According to a CNN/SSRS poll, roughly 70% of voters, and 45% of Democrats, said Biden’s physical or mental abilities were reasons for voting against him.
And six in 10 voters, including about a quarter of Democrats, said Biden’s reelection was a dangerous choice, not a safe one, for the country. New York Times/Siena College PollThe poll found Democrats are divided on whether Biden should remain the nominee.
“Today’s poll doesn’t fundamentally change the course of the race,” said Molly Murphy, a Biden campaign pollster.
To further boost morale, Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, called on White House aides at an all-staff meeting to turn off the “noise” and focus on the task of governing.
Biden himself has begun his own personal outreach. Private meetings with senior Democratic lawmakers These include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Coons and Clyburn.
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Zeke Miller, Colleen Long, Josh Boak and Amelia Thomson DeVoe in Washington and Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.
