President Biden delivered a defiant message Monday to panicked Democratic Party leaders: He is not quitting his reelection campaign because it would disregard the will of primary voters.
Working to shore up support for his candidacy, Mr. Biden angrily resisted Democrats plotting behind his back to drop him from the 2024 ticket because of his advanced age and deteriorating mental and physical health.
“We had a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively,” the president, 81, wrote to Democrats as they returned to Capitol Hill from an Independence Day recess. “The voters — and the voters alone — decide the nominee of the Democratic Party.”
Mr. Biden is suddenly battling members of his party who are increasingly concerned about his viability as a candidate and his ability to serve another term after his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta last month.
Polls show he has consistently lost ground in the race against former President Donald Trump.
The president phoned MSNBC on Monday morning and dared “party elites” to try to remove him from the ticket when Democrats gather for their nominating convention Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.
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“They know so much more,” Biden said sarcastically of those trying to push him aside. “If any of these guys don’t think I should run, run against me. Go ahead, announce for president. Challenge me at the convention.”
He delivered the same message to skittish Democratic donors on a private call Monday, which was meant to subdue their panic and encourage them to reopen their checkbooks.
“I am going to be the nominee of the party,” he told donors. He pledged to defeat Mr. Trump.
Mr. Biden is fighting for political survival. Democratic lawmakers now fear Mr. Biden is dragging down their own campaigns, which could cost them their narrow control of the Senate and a chance to win the House back from Republicans.
An Emerson College poll after the debate found Mr. Trump leading Mr. Biden in six battleground states. In Nevada, a state Mr. Biden won in 2020 and where Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, is up for reelection, Mr. Trump leads by 6 percentage points.
Mr. Biden is also trailing in Pennsylvania, where he spent his childhood. He won the state narrowly in 2020.
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“President Biden’s average approval rating in the state aligns him more closely with first-term incumbents who have lost than those who have won,” said Franklin & Marshall College Poll Director Berwood Yost.
Nationally, Mr. Trump has opened a consistent lead over Mr. Biden ranging from 2 to 11 percentage points.
Party lawmakers have publicly and privately expressed doubts about Mr. Biden’s ability to remain on the ticket. Many were not reassured by the president’s post-debate appearances or his July 5 ABC News interview in which he committed several flubs.
The White House press briefing was dominated by reporters demanding to know why a Parkinson’s disease specialist has visited the White House nearly a dozen times amid speculation from neurologists who have not treated the president that he may be suffering from the disease.
“President Biden has got to prove to the American people — including me — that he is up to the job for another four years,” Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat in a tough reelection race, said in a statement Monday.
Four top House Democrats said in a private leadership call on Sunday that Mr. Biden should withdraw from the race. Several other Democratic lawmakers also said they did not think the president should run for a second term.
Other lawmakers left the door open for Mr. Biden’s departure.
Speaking to constituents in Richmond, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, a former Democratic vice presidential nominee, said it would be up to Mr. Biden to decide whether to stay on the ticket.
“If he has doubts, he’ll level with the American public,” Mr. Kaine said. “He’s going to do what’s right for the country.”
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers weighed the daunting poll numbers against Mr. Biden’s first-term successes.
Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, said he supports discussions among party lawmakers, but “we have to begin with the recognition that he had a very productive presidency.”
While Democrats were mulling the presidential ticket over the weekend, Mr. Biden courted voters in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The two swing states could determine whether he wins in November.
In a veiled warning to those who might try to force him off the ticket, Mr. Biden reminded a crowd in Madison, Wisconsin, that “millions of Democrats just like you voted for me in primaries all across America.”
Longtime Biden critics in the party quickly pointed out that the Democrats did not stage a traditional open primary with a slate of challengers.
“Joe Biden citing his support in the primaries is ridiculous — they canceled the primary in multiple states, refused to have debates and told contenders it was career suicide to challenge him. If there had been debates we would have seen his decline months ago,” Andrew Yang, a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, posted on X.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will meet to discuss the Biden situation at their weekly caucus meetings. They are watching the president as he hosts a NATO summit that will culminate in a press conference on Thursday.
On Friday, Mr. Biden will head to Michigan, which is considered a must-win battleground state. He is scheduled to hold a campaign event before heading to his beach house in Delaware.
“We have 31 heads of state in town. This is really a week when he should have our strongest support,” said Sen. Christopher A. Coons, Delaware Democrat and top Biden ally.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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