A defiant US President Joe Biden has vowed to keep running for re-election, rejecting growing pressure from Democrats to withdraw after a disastrous debate performance raised questions about his fitness for office. It comes as Arizona congressman Raul Grijalva says Biden has a responsibility to “get out of this race”. “I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win,” Biden said on a call with staffers from his re-election campaign.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today A top White House aide also posting on the X social media platform that Biden said: “I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out”.
The president was pulling every possible lever to try to salvage his re-election campaign — talking to top legislators, pumping up his campaign staff and meeting later in the day with Democratic governors before a planned weekend blitz of travel and a network TV interview. But there were mounting signs that support for Biden was rapidly eroding among Democrats on Capitol Hill. Democrat representative Jim Clyburn, a longtime Biden friend and confidant, said he would back a “mini-primary” in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention next month if Biden were to leave the race.
Clyburn floated an idea that appeared to be laying the groundwork for alternatives by delegates during the Democrats’ planned virtual roll call that is scheduled before the more formal party convention, which is set to begin August .
