The Biden campaign has denied reports that President Biden may drop out of the 2024 presidential race, despite several others. House Democrats called on him to step aside.
Mr. Biden’s campaign challenged on Friday, releasing a memo, giving several interviews and calling all his staff confirming that he is still running and directing his focus on “Project 2025“a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term, and on record for the GOP nomination.
“Absolutely, the president is in this race,” Biden campaign chairman O’Malley Dillon said in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “You’ve heard him say it many times,” he said, adding, “He’s clearly, in our opinion … the best person to take on Donald Trump.”
“We see a path forward,” he said.
But Dan Kanninen, the state director of the Biden campaign, admitted in a memo on Friday that the campaign faces some obstacles, writing, “I will not see the state of the race: We have work to do to win this November.”
“We also have a great opportunity and a clear path to victory if we listen to what voters on the ground care about, if we focus on the issues that matter most to voters in the warring states,” he wrote. Kanninen said that while voters contacted by the campaign “consistently mentioned” Mr. Biden’s age, they still planned to support the president.
CBS News reported there that two senior House Democrats believe that Mr. Biden can leave the 2024 presidential race in three to five days, after a campaign of pressure from top lawmakers in his own party, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also spoken with the president and her views are close to those of Jeffries and Schumer.
At the same time, poll released the same day by CBS News shows that it is former President Donald Trump received the Republican nomination Thursday night, he held the largest national leadership in Mr. Biden campaign so far, attracted 52% support, compared to the president’s 47%. He increased his lead over Mr. Biden by 1 point in battleground states, 51% to 48%.
Dillon said in an all-staff campaign call Friday with former Biden Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, “If you give me a poll, I’ll put you in direct contact.”
“The people the president is listening to are saying ‘stay in this race and keep going and keep fighting, and we need you.’ The voice won’t be as loud as someone on TV, but remember people in our country don’t watch cable news,” Dillon said on the phone, according to a source familiar with the call.
The president picked up the phone and heard a case against him from an ally, which was not the case after the ugly debate with Trump last month. Biden ally and Delaware Senator Chris Coons said at an Aspen Institute event this week, “I believe he heard what he needed to hear from his colleagues from the public, from the people.” Coons also said, “I think our president is considering what he needs to consider, which is who is the best candidate to win in November and continue the values and priorities of the Democratic Party in this campaign.”
The New York Times quoted a Pelosi ally as saying the former speaker had told Mr Biden over the phone that he had seen polls suggesting he was unlikely to win. The president claims he has polls that show otherwise.
“One Donilon on the phone,” Pelosi said. “Show me what the polls are.”
In an interview with “CBS Mornings” on Friday, deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks also said it was “not right” for Mr. Biden to withdraw from the candidacy this weekend. The campaign “continues to implement a strategy to win with him at the top of the ticket,” he said.
“All the calls and anxiety are coming from places that want to defeat Donald Trump,” Fulks said.
“We’re not trying to discount anything. President Biden is 81 years old…
There was some good news for Mr. Biden Friday, with the endorsement of BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
BOLD PAC Chairwoman Linda Sánchez praised the Biden administration in a statement for its “unwavering commitment to Latinos,” and said another Trump term “will be disastrous for the Latino community.”
“Latinos nationwide will bear the consequences of a second Trump presidency,” he said. Sánchez predicted that Latino voters will be pivotal in races in California, New Mexico, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Nebraska.
The president continues to suffer from mild symptoms of COVID and is recovering in Rehoboth, but in a statement he responded Trump’s convention speech Thursday night, Mr. Biden said, “I look forward to being back on the campaign trail next week to continue to expose the threats from Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision I have for America: one where we save democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunities for everyone.”
O’Malley Dillon said the delegates at the DNC plan to move forward with the initial virtual nomination plan, “and they are sticking with the president.” The DNC is expected to formally nominated him in a virtual roll vote in August, before the convention takes place in Chicago later in the month.