- As Biden recovers from COVID-19 in Delaware, there are growing calls for him to withdraw from the race.
- But the tone of the plea only strengthened his resolve to continue the campaign, The Washington Post reports.
- Biden is considering returning to the campaign trail soon, possibly with stops in Georgia and Texas.
President Joe Biden has been holed up in Delaware since late Wednesday, where he has been recovering from a recent bout of COVID-19.
But Biden has also been watching his Democratic colleagues from afar, as he faces intense pressure from key members of his party and big donors to reconsider seeking reelection — a hugely consequential decision that he has so far refused to make.
Over the past 48 hours, a flurry of Democrats, including those from heavily Republican states such as Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana, have called on Biden to drop out of the race, part of a larger push by officials spooked by his poor performance in last month’s presidential debate and concerns among voters about whether he could serve a second term if re-elected.
But Biden and his family remain defiant and have bristled at criticism of the debate from his Democratic colleagues, who believe the president could have weathered the storm with his party’s support, The Washington Post reported.
The Post said some of the calls for Biden to drop out of the race have only made the president more determined to remain a candidate.
“They don’t seem to know that he’s Irish,” a Biden family aide recently told The Washington Post.
Biden’s close relationship with his family has always been an important part of his political identity, from his time as a senator from Delaware to his time as vice president and then president.
A major development in recent weeks has been Hunter Biden’s more visible emergence in his father’s political world, with the president’s son attending several high-profile White House meetings since the June debate. And this is a sign that Hunter Biden, who has long been political fodder for Republicans, is Convicted on a felony firearms charge.
While many media reports have emphasized the importance of First Lady Jill Biden and Hunter Biden in any decisions regarding Biden’s political future, a recent report from The Washington Post points to more nuanced feelings within the family regarding Biden’s decision to remain the Democratic nominee.
Biden has repeatedly said he has no plans to drop out of the race, and his family supports that decision, but the Washington Post reported that if the president were to change course, his family would support him.
Axios reported Saturday that Biden is returning to the campaign trail post-COVID, potentially with stops in Georgia and Texas, as he seeks to disprove his Democratic critics.