The White House on Wednesday labored to tell Americans that President Biden was staying in the race even as multiple reports revealed that he privately is considering ending his reelection run.
The president’s decision hinges, according to reports, on whether he can reassure voters over the next few days that, at 81, he is capable of serving another four-year term.
Concerns about Mr. Biden soared after a devastating debate performance last week against former President Donald Trump, whose lead over Mr. Biden widened in two post-debate polls.
Over the long July Fourth holiday weekend, Mr. Biden has scheduled a blitz of media appearances aimed at rehabbing his confused old-man image.
If Mr. Biden can’t salvage his teetering campaign, he won’t continue as the Democratic nominee for president, according to multiple media reports.
A key ally of Mr. Biden said the president knows he will have to step aside if he is unable to convince the public that he is fit for the job, The New York Times reported.
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The ally also said Mr. Biden understands that his next few appearances, which include an interview with ABC News and campaign appearances in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, are critical to convincing the public he can stay in the race.
“He knows that if he has two more events like [the debate], we are in a different place,” the high-placed Democrat said.
The reports, including from CNN, are the first signals that Mr. Biden is seriously weighing whether he can recover from his debate disaster.
Several Democrats have already seen enough and are calling for him to step aside.
While Mr. Biden is privately acknowledging that his political future is hanging by a thread, publicly the White House insists the president is in the race to stay.
Mr. Biden on Wednesday made an unexpected appearance on a Zoom call with campaign staff and reiterated he won’t drop out.
SEE ALSO: Boston Globe becomes the latest major newspaper to call on Biden to end campaign
“No one is pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win,” the president said, according to sources familiar with the call.
The sources said Mr. Biden again made it clear that he plans to stay in the race by telling staff, “Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can, as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running.”
The call was organized by Biden campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seen as the most likely replacement for Mr. Biden if he drops out, was also on the call, the source said.
“We will not back down. We will follow our president’s lead. We will fight, and we will win,” Ms. Harris said.
Ms. Harris’ appearance on the call suggests an effort to elevate her profile in case she’s called upon to replace Mr. Biden on the ticket. Earlier Wednesday, she had lunch with Mr. Biden and participated in a meeting with the president and the Democratic governors of 20 states.
Several party officials told CNN discussions are underway for Mr. Biden to immediately back Ms. Harris if it comes to that. She has dismissed such talk, publicly insisting that Mr. Biden is the nominee.
The campaign has pledged to hold staff calls more frequently to ensure officials have the most recent updates.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also emphatically stated that Mr. Biden is staying in the presidential race.
Asked if Mr. Biden is dropping out, she responded with a forceful, “Absolutely not,” insisting the president is “as sharp as ever.”
The White House also stepped up its outreach to lawmakers Wednesday amid complaints from Democrats on Capitol Hill and local statehouses that Mr. Biden hasn’t done enough to reassure anxious Democrats that he should be the nominee.
The outreach included calls to congressional Democratic leaders and a scheduled meeting in person with more than 20 Democratic governors. Nearly a week after the debate, Mr. Biden has been pilloried for not personally reaching out to his fellow Democrats.
After the evening meeting, the governors expressed support for Mr. Biden’s embattled campaign, saying they “have his back.”
“What we saw in there today was the guy who was the guy all of us believed in the first time who could beat Donald Trump and did beat Donald Trump,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who organized the meeting.
When asked if Mr. Biden was fit for office, Mr. Walz replied, “Yes,” but acknowledged that the president’s debate performance was “bad.”
The meeting with governors comes after they met separately earlier in the week over Zoom to discuss Mr. Biden’s campaign.
Mr. Biden on Wednesday spoke separately to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, both Democrats. He also spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York on Tuesday.
Still, the White House is raising more questions with ever-shifting explanations for Mr. Biden’s poor debate performance.
Ms. Jean-Pierre unexpectedly cited Mr. Biden’s comments from a fundraiser on Tuesday night when the president suddenly blamed jet lag from his trips to Europe in early June for his debate performance.
The debate was held nearly two weeks after his return from Europe and after more than a week of rest and preparation at Camp David.
“He pushed through it. I think anybody who does that, not just the president, should be commended,” she said.
As the White House spent Wednesday doing damage control, multiple events show that the tide might be shifting against the president.
A second elected Democratic member of the House, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, called on Mr. Biden to step aside, saying it was an “opportunity to look elsewhere.” On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first elected Democrat to demand Mr. Biden end his reelection campaign.
The Boston Globe joined The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Atlanta Journal-Constitution in calling for Mr. Biden to bow out of the race, citing a lack of explanation for his “historically” bad debate performance.
“In the days since last week’s presidential debate, President Biden’s team has said little that adequately explains why his performance was historically bad, beyond that he had a cold,” the editorial board wrote.
Also, two polls released Wednesday show Mr. Trump widening his lead over the president following the debate.
The New York Times/Siena College survey showed Mr. Trump leading Mr. Biden by 6 percentage points (49% to 43%), the largest lead the former president has enjoyed in any poll going back to his first campaign. Mr. Trump also has an 8-point lead (49% to 41%) among registered voters. It represented a 2-point increase for Mr. Trump since the last poll was published two days before the debate.
Separately, a Wall Street Journal survey showed Mr. Trump leading Mr. Biden by 6 points (48% to 42%) among registered voters, his largest lead since late 2021. In that poll, Mr. Trump’s lead over Mr. Biden grew by 4 percentage points from the last survey taken in February. In that poll, Mr. Trump had a 2-point lead over Mr. Biden (47% to 45%).
In a statement, the Trump campaign accused Democrats, media outlets and Washington politicos of colluding to “hide the truth” about Mr. Biden’s mental acuity.
“Every one of them has lied about Joe Biden’s cognitive state and supported his disastrous policies over the past four years, especially Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris,” the statement said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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