WASHINGTON (AP) — Four years ago, candidate Joe Biden stood before supporters at a Detroit high school, flanked by Kamala Harris and other rising Democratic…
Four years ago, candidate Joe Biden stood before supporters at a Detroit high school, flanked by Kamala Harris and other rising Democratic stars, and called himself a bridge to the next generation of leaders.
Biden, now a president seeking reelection, returns to that same high school on Friday with many in his party now pleading for him to fulfill that very promise and step aside. But Biden remains defiant that he’ll remain in the race despite a disastrous debate performance that triggered a wave of calls for him to end his candidacy.
During a news conference on Thursday, when asked why he no longer considered himself a “bridge” to the next generation of leaders, Biden responded that “what changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited in terms of the economy, foreign policy, and domestic division.”
“We’ve never been here before,” Biden continued. “And that’s the other reason why I didn’t, you say, hand off to another generation. I gotta finish the job.”
In the two weeks since his debate debacle, Biden and his team have been on a relentless sprint to convince fretting lawmakers, nervous donors and a skeptical electorate that at the age of 81, he is still capable of being president. But a spate of travel to battleground states, interviews with journalists and a rare solo news conference have done little to tamp down the angst within the party about Biden’s candidacy and his prospects against Donald Trump in November.
So far, one Democratic senator and 16 House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside, with the latest statements — from Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, California Rep. Scott Peters and Illinois Rep. Eric Sorensen — coming as the president’s highly anticipated news conference ended Thursday night. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has indicated Biden still has a decision to make on whether to run, even though the president has made it clear he remains in the race.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Biden after the press conference, sharing the “full breadth” of views from the House Democrats about the path forward in the president’s campaign for reelection, he said in a letter to colleagues.
Jeffries said Democrats have had an “extensive discussion” about the country’s future. And the conversations have been, as he said earlier in the week, “candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive.
