“I’m not going anywhere,” says Biden in view of weakening election campaign

“I’m running and we’re going to win,” he told a crowd carrying “Motown is Joetown” signs and chanting, “Don’t give up.”

“I’m the candidate,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Biden pointed to the press area in the gymnasium and said, “You messed me up,” to which the crowd booed. “Imagine if Donald Trump got a free pass,” he added.

“Hopefully with age comes some wisdom,” Biden said in a defiant and sometimes gleeful performance. “I know that – I know how to tell the truth, I know right from wrong … and I know that the American people want a president, not a dictator.”

Biden also laid out what he plans to do in the first 100 days of his second term, including codifying abortion rights, signing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, ending medical debt, raising the minimum wage and banning assault weapons.

These comprehensive changes would be difficult or impossible without Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

While union and religious leaders attended, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters were not present.

Earlier Friday, Biden made a surprise stop at a restaurant in a Detroit suburb and told diners he wanted to “finish the job,” adding, “I promise you … I’m fine.”

Biden received a boost on Friday when two prominent Democrats – Representative James Clyburn and California Governor Gavin Newsom – said he should stay in the race.

But there were signs that his support was waning elsewhere as well, with two other MPs calling on him to quit the legislature.

“It’s time to look forward. With a new leader,” California Rep. Mike Levin said in a statement. Levin, like many others who have called on Biden to drop out of the race, faces a tough re-election battle this year.

“I’m going with Biden no matter which way he goes,” Clyburn said on NBC’s “Today.” Newsom also said in an interview excerpt published by CBS that he would stick with Biden.

Clyburn, 83, is a respected voice among Black Americans whose support is critical to Biden’s 2024 campaign, while Newsom, 56, is one of several younger governors widely seen as the future of the party.

While Biden was canvassing voters in Michigan, Trump challenged him on Friday to take a cognitive test. He wrote on Truth Social: “I’m going to go with him and take one too. For the first time, we’re going to be a team and we’re going to do it for the good of the country.”

Trump will be in the national spotlight next week when the Republican Party holds its convention in Milwaukee to award him the presidential nomination.

CRUCIAL CALLS

Democrats fear that Biden’s low approval ratings and growing concerns that he is too old for the job could cause them to lose seats in the House and Senate. If Trump wins the White House, they would no longer have any influence on power in Washington.

As he worked to prevent further defections, Biden held separate calls with groups of Hispanic, Asian and Democratic lawmakers, according to aides. While the top two leaders of the Hispanic group endorsed Biden, several other members have not expressed their positions.

Democratic officials, donors and activists are trying to figure out whether Biden is their best chance to defeat Trump and serve another four-year term in the White House.

The New York Times reported that anonymous donors told a pro-Biden Super PAC fundraising committee that about $90 million in pledges would be withheld while he was in the race.

As Air Force One flew into the Motor City, campaign spokesman Michael Tyler told reporters that donations had “exploded” during Biden’s press conference Thursday night, rising to seven times the usual level.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, said he met with Biden on Thursday night to share his 213-member caucus’ views on Biden’s candidacy. He did not say whether he personally believes Biden should stay in the race.

“I have expressed directly the full range of my insights, deeply felt perspectives and conclusions about the way forward,” Jeffries wrote in a letter to his colleagues.

Biden once referred to his Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.” Hours earlier, at the NATO summit, he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin,” eliciting gasps from those present.

He also provided detailed assessments of global issues that reflected his decades of experience on the world stage.

With the majority of U.S. voters deeply divided ideologically, opinion polls show the race remains close.

An NPR/PBS poll released Friday shows Biden leading Trump 50% to 48%, a slight increase from his position before the June 27 debate.

However, some analysts warn that Biden is losing ground in the few highly competitive states that will determine the outcome of the election.

“If current trends continue, Mr. Trump could score one of the most decisive presidential victories since 2008,” Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik wrote in the New York Times.

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Jeff Mason is a White House correspondent for Reuters. He has covered the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, as well as the presidential campaigns of Biden, Trump, Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. He served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association from 2016 to 2017 and led the press advocacy group for press freedom in the early days of the Trump administration. His work and that of the WHCA have been recognized with Deutsche Welle’s Freedom of Speech Award. Jeff has asked pointed questions of domestic and foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. He is the winner of the WHCA’s Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure award and co-winner of the Association for Business Journalists’ Breaking News award. Jeff began his career in Frankfurt as a business reporter before being transferred to Brussels to cover the European Union. Jeff appears regularly on television and radio and teaches political journalism at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and a former Fulbright Scholar.

Makini Brice has been covering the U.S. Congress since 2021. In addition to Washington, she has also reported from Senegal, Haiti and France. She was part of a team of journalists that detailed the congressmen’s ancestors’ ties to slavery.