“Challenge me at the convention!” Biden told critics from his own party.
President Joe Biden is ready for a messy Democratic National Convention, after telling critics to raise at the event their concerns about him running as president, following his lackluster TV debate performance.
Biden doubled down on opponents Monday, calling on them to challenge him at the party’s big nominating gathering in Chicago next month if they are serious about their calls for him to withdraw from the presidential race.
“If any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Go ahead. Announce for president—challenge me at the convention!” the president said during a phone interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Delegates of the Democratic Party will select the party’s nominees for president and vice president at the convention, to be held August 19 to 22.
Biden has already earned 3,896 delegates from his state primary victories, according to The Associated Press’ presidential delegates tracker. He surpassed the 1,968 delegate threshold for the Democratic nomination with his March win in Georgia on Super Tuesday.
The Democratic Party is expected to announce Biden as its nominee at the DNC, but the calls for him to step aside and let another candidate take his place have grown louder in the wake of his troubling debate performance last month.
