President Biden is bravely remaining in the race despite growing calls from allies for him to withdraw and speculation that he could do so as early as this weekend.
The Biden campaign has disputed anonymous sources and speculation that Biden will end his campaign within days, suggesting pressure is growing to force him to quit campaigning.
“This week there have been many anonymous sources informing you about what is and isn’t happening in the Biden-Harris campaign. I am here, on the record!, to provide you with a summary of what actually happened, what’s going to happen, and the very bad events that took place at the Republican National Convention,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Muonoz said in a press release over the weekend.
The comments came shortly after Newsmax reporter Mark Halperin reported that an anonymous Democratic source told him Biden would withdraw from the race as soon as this weekend, not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor and call for an open convention during next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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President Biden speaks at the United Auto Workers convention in Washington, DC on January 24, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
“It could happen as early as this weekend. His speech is ready. He intends to remain in office. And from what I’ve heard, he is not endorsing VP Harris as his successor. They would be hopeful that he would support an open process where VP Harris and a few other candidates would have a convention in Chicago to select the Democratic presidential nominee,” Halperin said Thursday.
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Axios also speculated that President Biden could pull out as soon as this weekend, with unnamed aides to Biden reportedly saying the president was open to acceding to the withdrawal request.
But so far, Biden’s campaign has not given in to the speculation and has called on the president to back down, with campaign and White House officials denying the speculation on social media, issuing press releases and announcing continued fundraising efforts.
Biden’s deputy campaign manager said Sunday that reports that the president had dropped out were “false” and that Biden had made it clear he intended to continue campaigning.
“That’s false. And I think it’s a mistake to continue to fuel this narrative. Joe Biden has said he’s in this race,” deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said on MSNBC on Sunday. “He’s in this race to win. He’s directing us to put a plan in place to make sure we communicate. [to as] “I want as many voters as possible to vote. Actions speak louder than words, but sometimes, like in this case, you wish people would stop asking this question if words spoke louder. But we’re doing both. The president is running to win this race and he’s committed to not going anywhere.”
Biden supporters attended a campaign rally on July 12, 2024, at Renaissance High School in Detroit. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Biden was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Wednesday and is currently self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. He was diagnosed while in Las Vegas, forcing the president to cancel an event in the city until he recovered.
Thirty-six Democrats called on Biden to drop out of the race in the days and weeks following his dismal debate performance, during which he stumbled and appeared more erratic than usual, further questioning his mental health.
Before his COVID-19 diagnosis, Biden was campaigning at a faster pace than before the debates, holding rallies and meetings across the country and performing his official presidential duties, including hosting world leaders at the NATO summit earlier this month. Biden delivered a stronger-than-usual speech at the NATO summit and his first solo press conference of the year drew mixed reviews. But these events have not made Democrats believe Biden is fit to take office, and traditional allies continue to issue statements urging him to withdraw.
“While it is up to President Biden to decide whether to withdraw from the campaign trail, I believe now is the time to pass the baton so we can defeat Donald Trump in the next election and ensure his legacy of leadership,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a statement last week.
President Biden spoke at a press conference on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington on July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin, File)
There had been speculation that Biden would withdraw as soon as this weekend, but The New York Times reported that the president will not withdraw ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu’s visit to the Israeli capital this week.
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The president also has a fundraiser scheduled for July 29 in Hawaii with former late-night TV host David Letterman and is receiving support from members of the Squad as he continues his campaign.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Cannon Tunnel on Capitol Hill on April 30, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“A lot of Democrats have made little anonymous comments to the media, to journalists in the form of articles, but I’m not here to bash the media,” she said. “I’m here to bash my colleagues because to me, it’s — sorry, it’s past midnight — I think it’s bullshit. I mean, if you have an opinion, you should stand up and say it publicly,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a member of the squad, said in defense of Biden last week.
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Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison also has not called on Biden to drop out of the race, instead saying earlier this month that Biden is the party’s nominee.
“This is not the White House… We went through a process, millions of people voted for Joe Biden, and we have a nominee!” Harrison tweeted on July 2.
A mobile advertising truck displays political messages near President Biden’s beach house, Saturday, July 20, 2024, in Rebobos Beach, Delaware. (Image direct from Fox News Digital)
Biden is not yet officially the nominee, but Democratic National Committee members voted Friday that he will be formally named during an online roll call on Aug. 7. That gives Democrats roughly two weeks to rally new support for Biden to make him the nominee, or for him to withdraw and hand the job to another candidate.
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Speculation about Biden’s withdrawal has been growing since former President Donald Trump was formally nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. Trump attended the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last week and announced Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate, then accepted the nomination.
With First Lady Melania Trump looking on, former President Trump signed the papers to formally accept the nomination on the final day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The Republican National Convention took place just two days after President Trump was wounded in the right ear and nearly killed in an assassination attempt. Last Saturday, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding President Trump and two others and killing a 50-year-old married man who was trying to shield his wife and family from the gunfire.
He was mocked online after writing a column about Hillary Clinton as the “strongest” candidate to succeed Biden.
Trump addressed the shooting during his highly anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention, saying, “You’ll never hear from me about this again, because it hurts too much to talk about.”
Sen. J.D. Vance, former President Trump and Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump during the Republican National Convention, Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“I was not supposed to be here tonight,” he said. “It is only by the grace of Almighty God that I am standing before you in this arena. And if you look at the reports over the last few days, many have said this was a providential moment, and perhaps it was.”
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“For the rest of my life I will be grateful for the love shown by that huge crowd of patriots who bravely stood up on that fateful night in Pennsylvania,” he added.
