Following growing concerns about the health of the US President ahead of the November 2024 Presidential election, his spokesman has come out to say, “Joe Biden is “absolutely not” pulling out of the US presidential race.”
The statement is coming on the heels of mounting pressures following Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
According to reports, panic has gripped the Democratic Party in the wake of last week’s TV debate. It was also reported that the development steered up internal rumblings about finding a replacement candidate.
This is even polls showing Trump extending his lead ahead of the November’s election.
The New York Times and CNN reported that Biden, 81, had acknowledged to a key ally that his reelection bid was on the line. This is if he failed to quickly reassure the public that he was still up to the job.
However, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre rejected those reports outright. She insisted Biden has no intention of withdrawing.
“The President is clear-eyed, and he is staying in the race,” she told reporters.
“Biden told a call with campaign and party staffers that he is going nowhere.
“I’m in this race to the end. And we’re going to win. Because when Democrats unite, we will always win. Just as we beat Donald Trump in 2020, we’re going to beat him again in 2024,” Biden said, according to a source close to the campaign.
“He repeated that message in an emergency meeting with Democratic Governors, who pledged their continued support,” attendees said afterward.
“As the President continued to tell us, and show us, that he was all in… We said that we would stand with him,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore said. Moore is seen as a rising star and potential future presidential candidate.
He told reporters alongside Minnesota’s Tim Walz and Kathy Hochul of New York.
According to Walz, Biden was “fit to serve.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who also attended the meeting at the White House said on social media platform X that “he is in it to win it and I support him.” Whitmer is seen as one of the top picks to replace Biden if he should drop out.
According to the Democratic, Biden has admitted he performed poorly in the debate. And the President was blunt in a radio interview recorded Wednesday with Wisconsin’s Civic Media where he admitted to his blunder.
“I screwed up. I made a mistake. That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years,” Biden said.
The Biden campaign has been desperate to reassure Democratic donors and voters that the president’s performance against Trump was a one-off.
But party figures have voiced bafflement over what they see as deflection and excuses from the president and his aides.
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, told the New York Times that Biden should withdraw.
“Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” he said in an email to the paper.
The concern was compounded by a New York Times poll conducted after the debate that showed Trump with his biggest lead ever over Biden. The former President garnered 49 percent to 43 percent of likely voters.
It wasn’t until Wednesday — six days after the debate — that Biden completed a round of calls with Democratic congressional leaders, and staffers have also voiced consternation over the glacial pace of the outreach.
“We are getting to the point where it may not have been the debate that did him in. But the aftermath of how they’ve handled it,” a senior Democratic operative told Washington political outlet Axios.
Biden may be tested on his ability to think on his feet when he sits with ABC News on Friday. That will be his first television interview since the debate,.
In continuation of his campaigns, he will also hit the swing States of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in the coming days.
source: PUNCH
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