At a rally in the key battleground state of Wisconsin, President Joe Biden emphatically and defiantly declared he was staying in the 2024 race despite his assertion that people are trying to “push” him out in the wake of his performance at last week's debate.
“Guess what? They're trying to push me out of the race,” Biden said Friday. “Well let me say this as clearly as I can: I'm staying in the race, I’ll beat Donald Trump.”
Addressing an energized crowd in Madison, Biden noted that “millions of Democrats” voted for him to be the party’s 2024 nominee in “primaries all across America.”
“No one else – you, the voters, did that,” he said, adding: “some folks don’t seem to care who you voted for.”
The president’s reelection campaign is facing mounting questions from Democrats about Biden’s role as the party's nominee ahead following his disappointing debate performance against former President Donald Trump in Atlanta last week that rocked the political world.
Just hours before Biden took the stage on Friday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who joined Biden’s meeting with Democratic governors aimed at quelling fears about his debate showing on Wednesday, urged the president to “carefully evaluate” whether he is the party’s best candidate to defeat Trump.
“Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump,” the governor said in a statement. “Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump.”
Three House Democrats this week officially called on Biden to pull out of the race while others significantly stepped up their willingness to question whether he was the best candidate.
Asked if the president is considering the concerns expressed by some House Democrats on the way to Wisconsin, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the president is determined to move forward.
“He hears the concern, one bad night and he wants to move forward and that's what we’re doing,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden also used Friday’s rally to go after the Supreme Court ruling this week granting presidents immunity for official acts as well as Trump himself, calling the former president “the biggest liar and the biggest threat to our democracy in American history.”
The president noted that the Supreme Court immunity decision, which came down on Monday, made it so that Trump “really could become a dictator that he promised to be on day one,” which is a reference to a comment the former president made in an interview with Fox News in December regarding the border and domestic energy production.
Biden started his remarks recalling a speech at a Fourth of July event in which Trump said the Continental Army “took over the airports” during the Revolutionary War – something Trump blamed on a faulty teleprompter.
“And talk about me misspeaking,” Biden said in reference to one criticism of him swirling after the debate.
The 81-year-old president also addressed concerns regarding his age, telling the crowd that he “wasn’t too old” to “create over 15 million jobs,” expand the Affordable Care Act, “Beat Big Pharma” and more.
It comes as Biden is facing growing questions after he reportedly told governors during Wednesday's meeting that he was going to stop participating in engagements after 8 p.m. in order to get more sleep.
Jean-Pierre on Friday told reporters that Biden was intending to communicate to the state leaders that he “recognizes the importance of striking a balance and taking care of himself.”
“He shared that view with governors and took ownership of trying to do too much in the lead up to the debate,” she said
Jean-Pierre also addressed questions about Biden responding to an inquiry from governors on Wednesday about his physical well-being and responding that while his health is fine, “it’s just my brain.
The press secretary insisted it was a joke, pointing to comments from others in the meeting saying the same.
Friday’s campaign rally in Wisconsin is one of multiple events added to the president’s schedule in the wake of the debate as Democrats urged him to get in front of the public in an effort to convince people is still the best person to be the party’s nominee.
After the rally, Biden was set to sit down for an interview with ABC News that is scheduled to run Friday night. He will also campaign in Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Biden’s reelection campaign on Friday announced an “aggressive” strategy for July, which includes a $50 million ad blitz and fresh battleground state travel, in an effort to move on from last week’s debate.