Biden faces more pressure from Democrats to abandon re-election bid
Send a link to a friend
[July 12, 2024]
By Andrea Shalal, Nandita Bose and Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden faced more calls from fellow
Democrats to abandon his re-election bid on Friday, following a news
conference in which he delivered nuanced responses but occasionally
stumbled over his words.
It was unclear whether Biden's performance would convince doubters in
his party that he is their best bet to defeat Republican Donald Trump in
the Nov. 5 election and serve another four-year term in the White House.
At least 17 congressional Democrats so far have called for him to drop
out and allow the party to pick another standard-bearer, including some
who announced their positions after the news conference on Thursday
night.
Democrats are worried that Biden's low public approval ratings and
growing concerns that he is too old for the job could cause them to lose
seats in the House and Senate, leaving them with no grip on power in
Washington should Trump win the White House.
But Biden made clear that he did not plan to step aside.
"If I show up at the convention and everybody says they want someone
else, that's the democratic process," Biden said, before shifting to the
stage whisper he often uses for emphasis to add, "It's not gonna
happen."
Biden perhaps did not reassure those who were spooked by his poor
presidential debate performance against Trump on June 27.
At one point, he referred to his vice president, Kamala Harris, as "Vice
President Trump". That came just hours after he introduced Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as "President Putin" at the NATO summit,
drawing gasps from those in the room.
Biden occasionally garbled his responses at the news conference, yet he
also delivered detailed assessments of global issues, including
Ukraine's war with Russia and the Israel-Gaza conflict, that served as a
reminder of his decades of experience on the world stage.
Some Democrats were not reassured.

[to top of second column]
|

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a campaign event in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 7, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan
Howard/File Photo

"We must put forward the strongest candidate possible to confront
the threat posed by Trump's promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no
longer believe that is Joe Biden," said Representative Jim Himes of
Connecticut, who called on the president to end his campaign after
the news conference.
A senior campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity
called the performance the "worst of all worlds. Not good. But not
bad enough to make him change his mind ... It'll give some enough
cover to back him publicly, only to say he's not up for it
privately."
Fundraiser Dmitri Melhorn said other donors told him they saw a
strong performance from the president. "This is the person who can
beat Trump. The mistakes are baked in and the upside is strong," he
told Reuters.
Biden will hold a rally on Friday in Detroit, where his campaign
says he will focus on the "dangers" of Trump's agenda.
The Michigan city is also headquarters of the United Auto Workers
labor union, whose leaders endorsed Biden but now are assessing
their options, three sources told Reuters.
With most U.S. voters firmly divided into ideological camps, opinion
polls show the race remains close.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found Biden and Trump tied
at 40% each. But some nonpartisan analysts have warned that Biden is
losing ground in the handful of competitive states that will
determine the outcome of the election.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Andy Sullivan, Andrea Shalal and
Kanishka Singh; Editing by Scott Malone and Jamie Freed)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |