As calls from fellow Democrats mount for him to end his re-election campaign, U.S. President Joe Biden gave no sign Saturday that he plans to step down after a pair of provocative public appearances the day before.
Biden, 81, is facing a slow-moving revolt from congressional Democrats and some influential donors who worry he won’t be able to defeat Republican Donald Trump, 78, in the Nov. 5 election. A highly anticipated interview with the president on ABC News, which aired Friday night, did little to assuage those concerns.
In that interview, Biden said only the “Lord Almighty” could persuade him to abandon his campaign, dismissing the possibility that Democratic leaders could band together to try to convince him to step down. He had a routine phone call with his campaign’s national co-chairs on Saturday, the White House said.
Pressure from Congress appears likely only to intensify in the coming days as lawmakers return to Washington from a year-end recess, with Biden facing perhaps one of the most consequential weeks of his presidency.
As his future is debated on Capitol Hill, Biden will host dozens of world leaders at a high-stakes NATO summit in Washington and is expected to hold what is sure to be a closely watched news conference.
On Saturday, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota became the first Democratic member of the House of Representatives in a key district to call on Biden to concede.
“Given what I saw and heard from the president in last week’s debate in Atlanta, as well as the lack of a forceful response from the president himself after that debate, I do not believe the president can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,” Craig, a top target of Republican House efforts in 2024, said on X.
Some House Democrats are circulating two separate letters calling on Biden to step down, House Democratic sources said. Many of those lawmakers were waiting to see the ABC News interview before taking any further action.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has scheduled a virtual meeting Sunday with senior House Democrats to discuss Biden’s candidacy and the path forward.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, who had previously called on Biden to step down, told CNN after the ABC interview: “Every day, (Biden’s) delays make it harder for someone new to come in and defeat Donald Trump.”
Meanwhile, on the Senate side, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner was reaching out to some of his Democratic colleagues to invite them to a possible meeting Monday to discuss Biden’s campaign.
Biden spent Saturday at his home in Delaware with no public events scheduled, although he did attend an evening church service. Sunday will be a busy day for him, with two campaign events in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
At a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday, Biden vowed to stay in the race.
“I’m running and I’m going to win again,” Biden told his supporters.
Some polls show Trump’s lead over Biden widening, and Democrats worry that concerns about the president could weigh on the runoff elections.
But Biden recorded his best result yet in a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll of key battleground states, with Trump leading Biden by just 2 percentage points, 47% to 45%, in the critical battlegrounds needed to win the November election.
A bright spot for Biden came early Saturday, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas accepted a U.S. offer to begin talks on the release of Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, a move that could pave the way for a cease-fire to end the nine-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the top choice to replace Biden if he steps down as Democratic Party standard-bearer, spoke in New Orleans at the Essence Festival of Culture, an annual culture and music festival sponsored by Essence magazine that targets black women.
Harris attacked former President Donald Trump and the U.S. Supreme Court for stripping away abortion rights, part of an effort by the Biden campaign to boost support among black voters.
On Friday, Harris posted a note of support on X after Biden’s rally in Madison, saying the president had dedicated his life to fighting for Americans. “In this moment, I know we are all ready to fight for him,” she said.
Margaret Washa, 75, a retired physical therapist from Middleton, Wisconsin, saw Biden at the Madison rally and thought he looked more vigorous, but she was dismayed after watching the interview.
“Everything is starting to focus on him and his ability to do it, rather than what’s best for our nation and passing on leadership to the next generation,” she said. “It’s time to pass the baton. There are so many good Democrats out there who are strong, young, smart and more charismatic than we are.”
