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Campaign staff are preparing to shift their focus to raising, then electing, Vice President Kamala Harris, sources said. The Independentalthough Joe Biden categorically denies that there is any intention to withdraw from the 2024 election race.
A steady stream of Democrats began asking Biden to withdraw his candidacy after spending 90 minutes confronting former President Donald Trump by giving a series of rude answers and appearing to lose his mind on several occasions, leaving. supporters were shocked by his condition.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spent Wednesday’s press briefing telling reporters that Biden wants to stay on, and that she told campaign staff in a conference call earlier in the day that she plans to stay on the ballot this year. election. Biden campaign spokesman Seth Schuster said The Independent that Biden is “absolutely unstoppable.”
Schuster also denied reports that the president was even considering such action, calling it “absolutely false.”
Biden spoke in his own defense on a call with campaign staff on Wednesday. According to a source familiar with the call, the president said: “I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win because when the Democrats are united, we’re going to win. Just like we beat Donald Trump in 2020, we’re going to beat him again in 2024.”
Harris, who also called, echoed his comments, telling campaign aides: “We’re not going to back down. We’re going to follow our president’s lead. We’re going to fight, and we’re going to win.”
The president’s defiant stance comes after Biden and his allies have spent the past week giving a shifting explanation for his poor performance, blaming the cold and then jet lag. Some insiders think the president should drop out of the race to vote for his friends.
A Democratic strategist who worked on the Biden 2020 campaign and still speaks regularly with senior campaign officials. The Independent on Wednesday that there was “no question” that Harris would be passed the torch and explained that it was not a matter of whether Biden would make the unprecedented decision, but when.
The strategist said campaign officials have advised prominent Democrats not to explicitly invite Biden to withdraw from the candidacy so he can make his own decision.
“They don’t want to be kicked out. They want to make choices,” he said.
The Independent understand that Biden’s campaign staff and White House officials are ready to participate in an all-hands call on Wednesday, when the leader will try to assure that all is well and moving forward.
But a second source close to the campaign said this weekend could see Biden make a decision on whether to step down and elevate Harris.
“Tomorrow (Thursday) is when Biden is going to sit down with the family. Like, it’s going to be the biggest decision … not a decision because I all know the direction,” he said.
The source added that for now, “it’s just about what happened” and “how well it goes.”
Biden has spent the past week meeting with top advisers in hopes of defusing the firestorm that erupted minutes into the primetime debate.
After initially admitting he had a “bad night” and telling supporters the next day that he realized he wasn’t debating as much as he used to, Biden began a new explanation of his problems at a private fundraiser on Tuesday, telling. Donors are tired of their taxing travel schedule.
“I decided to travel around the world several times, I don’t know what the time zone is like … in the weeks before the debate,” he said. “And I didn’t listen to my staff. And I came back and almost fell asleep on stage.
Biden has agreed to an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopolous to be taped Friday for the network’s public affairs program, This week. It is understood that clips from the longer show will be shown on the night at David Muir World News Tonight.
The president has also committed to a press conference at the NATO summit next week, which he is hosting in Washington.
But behind the scenes, he privately told his allies that their efforts at damage control might be futile. According to CNN, he told one confidante: “It’s not working,” and gave the impression he would quit if the polls didn’t improve and fundraising took a toll after the ABC interview.
