In a letter to congressional democrats on Monday, July 8, 2024, President Joe Biden said that he is firmly committed to running for re-election.
Biden told them that he has no plans to end his bid for re-election despite concerns over his debate performance and ability to serve as President.
“Now that you have returned from the July 4th recess, I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,” Biden wrote.
In a clear reference to his debate performance, Biden noted that over the past week and a half, “I have heard the concerns that people have – their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election. I am not blind to them.”
Biden made clear that he felt he was the best candidate to defeat Trump, and noted that he had faced primary challengers who came nowhere near to preventing him from gaining the delegates necessary to becoming the Democrats’ presumptive nominee.
“I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year. It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned.
“The voters – and the voters alone – decide the nominee of the Democratic Party. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party? I cannot do that. I will not do that.”
Joe Biden
“Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say?” Biden asked.
In his letter, Biden went into all of the promises of his campaign, and the policies he would continue in his second term.
“I have no doubt that I – and we – can and will beat Donald Trump. We have an historic record of success to run on,” he added.
Separately, Biden made unscheduled remarks live on a morning show where he reiterated his resolve to continue his campaign.
“The bottom line here is that we’re not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere. I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t absolutely believe that I am the best candidate to beat down Trump,” the U.S President said.
Biden Says Talks Of Replacing Him Helps Trump
Moreover, Biden noted that relatively little time remains before the 5 November election and warned that arguing over whether he can still do the job hurts the Democratic cause.
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end,” he stated in his letter.
“We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.”
Joe Biden
Ritchie Torres, a Democratic congressman from New York, said much of the same in a post on X.
“Regardless of where one stands on the question of President Biden’s political future, the intra-party mixed messaging strikes me as deeply self-destructive,” Torres stated.
He added, “Those publicly calling on President Biden to withdraw should ask themselves a simple question: what if the President becomes the Democratic nominee?”
“The drip, drip, drip of public statements of no confidence only serve to weaken a President who has been weakened not only by the debate but also by the debate about the debate.
“Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election. The piling-on is not so much solving a problem as much as it is creating and compounding one.”
Ritchie Torres
He asserted, “The process by which we decide how to move forward matters as much as the decision itself.”
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