Joey GarrisonUSA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden sought to reassure his nervous campaign staff on Wednesday that he will be the 2024 Democratic nominee, telling his team during a conference call that he is not withdrawing from the race.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined an all-staff campaign call and pushed back at mounting pressure for the 81-year-old incumbent president to bow out following a disastrous debate performance last week that has thrust his campaign into chaos.
"The past few days have been tough. I’m sure you're getting a lot of calls, and I'm sure many of you have questions as well," Biden told the campaign, according to a source familiar with the conversation. "Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can and as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running.
"I’m the nominee of the Democratic Party," Biden added. "No one's pushing me out. I'm not leaving. I'm in this race to the end, and we're going to win because when Democrats unite, we always win."
Biden and Harris delivered the pep talk to their battered campaign as calls have intensified following Biden's debate with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, in which the Democratic president struggled to finish sentences and express coherent thoughts.
They reminded their staff of the high stakes of the election against Trump, the former president who lost his own 2020 reelection race, and reiterated Biden's motto that when you get knocked down, you get back up.
Their message, according to the source: "Let's go win this."
"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 told them.
Harris, who is seen as the most obvious replacement candidate if Biden were to withdraw, was also on the line, telling campaign staff, "We will not back down. We will follow our president’s lead. We will fight, and we will win," according to the source.
Biden ended his remarks thanking his staff and telling them the stakes are too important to back down. "There is no one I'd rather be in this battle with than all of you," Biden said. "So let's link arms. Let's get this done. You, me, the vice president. Together."
The White House and Biden campaign have spent the week trying to contain the fallout from Biden's debate debacle.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., on Wednesday, in an interview with the New York Times, became the second sitting member of Congress to publicly call for Biden to end his campaign, joining Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas. A post-debate poll from USA TODAY/Suffolk University found Trump has gained 3 percentage points over Biden, now leading the president 41%-38%.
To try to ease concerns among Democrats, Biden talked Wednesday with Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and longtime allies Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. and Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Asked whether Biden is considering dropping out of the race, Jean-Pierre said, "Absolutely not."
At the same time the campaign held its all-staff meeting, Biden's chief of staff, Jeff Zients, held a conference call meeting with all White House staff members.
"It's a fair question," Jean-Pierre, addressing reporters at a press briefing, said when asked if there's a morale issue at the White House. She said Zients, during the meeting, "conveyed the importance of us executing our mission. We talked about the importance of coming together as a team."
Biden met Wednesday night with 10 Democratic governors at the White House and 14 other governors who joined virtually by Zoom who asked for the meeting after raising concerns about the debate.
Biden walked quickly by reporters without taking shouted questions from after presiding over an afternoon Medal of Honor ceremony in the White House East Room.
Yet Biden appeared to reference his debate performance while describing one of the two posthumous recipients, Private George D. Wilson, a veteran of the Civil War.
"He was a father, a mechanic − and he was a hell of a debater," Biden said with a smile. "He always was ready to persuade, argue, and as one family member put it, dress anyone down if the need be."
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, embraced the possibility that Biden might not be the Democratic nominee.
"President Trump will beat any Democrat on November 5th because he has a proven record and an agenda to Make America Great Again," Trump's co-campaign managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, said in a written statement.
Biden offered a new excuse for his his poor debate performance while addressing supporters at a fundraiser Tuesday night − that he was fatigued from recent travel overseas.
"It's the jet lag and also the cold," Jean-Pierre said Wednesday, even though she hadn't previously mentioned anything about Biden being jetlagged. "That was my bad," she said of the previous omission.
Jean-Pierre, facing a barrage of questions from reporters about Biden's health, said the president is "as sharp as ever."
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