WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden defiantly vowed on Wednesday to keep running for reelection, rejecting growing pressure from within his Democratic Party to withdraw after a disastrous debate performance raised questions about his readiness. He said he would not be forced from the race.
President Joe Biden defiantly vowed on Wednesday to keep running for reelection, rejecting growing pressure from within his Democratic Party to withdraw after a disastrous debate performance raised questions about his readiness. He said he would not be forced from the race.
“I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out“, Biden said, according to a top aide who posted his comment on the X social media platform.
Biden and Harris made a surprise appearance on a Democratic National Committee call, according to three people familiar with the matter who were given anonymity to discuss the private conversation. The people said it was a pep talk, stressing the stakes of the election and returning to Biden’s previous post-debate comments that he would get back up after being knocked down.
It was one of several efforts by the president and his top aides to try to calm increasing anxiety among his allies on Capitol Hill and at top levels of his party.
Democrats are unsatisfied with the explanations of Biden’s debate performance, from both White House staff and Biden himself. And there is a deeper frustration among some Democrats who feel Biden should have handled questions about his stumbling debate performance much sooner and that he has put them in a difficult position by staying in the race.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients urged people during an earlier all-staff meeting Wednesday to tune out the “noise” and focus on the task of governing.
