US President Joe Biden has vowed he will keep running for the November election until the end, even as Democrats privately call for him to sit out the election.
Biden has firmly stood his ground and told congressional Democrats in a letter Monday that he would continue his effort to contest the election despite growing concerns about his mental state.
Biden said he wouldn’t run for re-election “if I didn’t have total confidence that I could defeat Donald Trump.”
He said, “I want to tell you that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I remain firmly committed to staying in this race, to staying in this race until the end, and to defeating Donald Trump.”
Furthermore, he also said, “We have 42 days until the Democratic Convention and 119 days until the general election,” Biden said in a letter distributed by his reelection campaign.
In the letter, Biden has called for unity in his party and stressed the need for collective efforts to defeat former President Donald Trump in the upcoming elections.
“Any weakness in the resolve or lack of clarity about the work ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It’s time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump,” Biden said.
The letter comes after a group conversation with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in which four congressmen explicitly urged Biden to step down. Some wealthy donors have also reportedly expressed discomfort. Hollywood’s Rob Reiner, who regularly donates to Democratic candidates, said he thinks Biden should step down, saying “we will lose our democracy if Trump wins.”
At the same time, some of the president’s biggest supporters are doubling down on the fight for Biden’s presidency, insisting there’s no better way to defeat Trump than in what many consider one of the most important elections of their lifetime.
A leadership call was organized by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday, where several top House Democrats urged President Joe Biden to step away from his 2024 campaign, expressing deep concern about his potential impact on the Democratic Party’s prospects in the upcoming elections.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
