WASHINGTON − President Joe Biden made his case to union members and Democratic voters in a campaign stop in Michigan on Friday, telling people gathered at a suburban diner: “I promise you: I’m OK.”
Biden is skating on thin ice as he tries to restore confidence among Democrats after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump and following several verbal gaffes at a pivotal press conference Thursday.
The handful of Democrats calling for Biden to step aside continued to grow on Thursday and Friday. One example: Swing state Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., said in a statement that "For the sake of American democracy, and to continue to make progress on our shared priorities, I believe it is time for the President to step aside as our nominee.”
More:Biden mistakenly introduces Ukraine's Zelenskyy as 'President Putin' at end of NATO summit
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Thursday showed that 56% of Democratic voters want Biden to step aside and let another leader run.
Follow along with USA TODAY's live updates on Biden's reelection tightrope.
‘I promise you, I’m OK,’ Biden assures voters on the campaign trail in Michigan
Fresh off his high-stakes press conference the previous night, President Joe Biden brought his campaign to Michigan on Friday, stopping in the afternoon at a restaurant before an evening rally set for later in Detroit.
“We gotta finish the job,” Biden told about 50 people seated at tables at Garage Grill and Fuel Bar in Northville, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. “I promise you: I’m OK.”
“We love Joe” posters were displayed in the restaurant’s windows.
In remarks that lasted about 15 minutes, Biden did not directly address the growing number of Democratic detractors who want him to drop out of the election or his disastrous debate two weeks ago that set off panic within the party about his mental fitness.
“This is an important one,” he said of the election, before the 81-year-old Biden referred to his age. “For the longest time I was too young because I was the second youngest man ever elected to the United States senate and now I’m too old.”
"With age comes a little wisdom,” Biden said. “The alternative is not much of an alternative."
−Joey Garrison
Joe being Joe: Biden campaign downplays glaring gaffes at press conference
The Biden campaign waved away two major gaffes that President Joe Biden made during remarks at a NATO summit and press conference that followed on Thursday − both which attracted even more scrutiny over his mental sharpness. .
Biden turned heads by introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr President as “President Putin,” the leader of Russia. And during the press conference he mistakenly called his vice president, Kamala Harris, “Vice President Donald Trump."
But Biden's reelection team didn't miss a beat.
More:New poll finds that most Democratic voters want Biden to drop out of the race
"Joe Biden has been making gaffes for 40 years. He made a couple last night. He will probably continue to do so," said Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director.
Tyler then pivoted to the policies of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, singling out Trump’s comments about a “bloodbath” if he loses the election and being a dictator on “day one,” while accusing Trump of wanting a nationwide ban on abortion.
"The voters of this country are smart,” Tyler said. “The voters watched the totality of that press conference. They saw the president lead on the global stage.”
—Joey Garrison
Biden campaign says ‘donations exploded’ during press conference
The Biden campaign said Friday it received nearly 40,000 individual donations on the night of President Joe Biden’s press conference as team Biden sought to project momentum despite the emergence of more Democratic detractors.
“Donations exploded,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, told reporters on Air Force One while Biden was en route to Detroit for a Friday evening campaign rally.
More:Democrats face pressure from home to push Biden out of the 2024 race
Tyler said the campaign took in seven times its typical hourly haul during Biden’s one-hour press conference Thursday night – his first press conference since his disastrous debate with Donald Trump two weeks ago. Tyler did not provide a dollar amount.
Reports by NBC News and other outlets have said the campaign’s fundraising has taken a major hit over the past two weeks while Democrats have called on Biden to drop from the election. The New York Times reported Friday that mega donors from Biden’s largest Super PAC, Future Forward, are putting $90 million in pledged contributions on hold if Biden remains the Democratic nominee.
“The president gave answers to a wide range of questions reminding Americans that he is the best leader to continue to move our country forward and the best candidate to beat Donald Trump,” Tyler said.
−Joey Garrison
Dems in Congress feel the heat from voters back home
Some Democrats in Congress are facing growing pressure from their constituents to push President Joe Biden out of the 2024 race.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who is in the middle of a tight primary race, said at an eventFriday that “100%” of the phone calls her office is receiving are from people asking her to call for Biden to drop out.
Rep.Becca Balint, D-Vt., said in a statement that she “heard overwhelmingly from Vermonters that they would like to see President Biden step aside in this race.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said his office had received more than 3,000 calls and emails from constituents saying something similar over the last week or so.
“These are people that are not donors. These are not elite,” Hickenlooper told Semafor earlier this week.
—Rachel Barber
Biden 'energetic, responsive' in meeting with Congressional caucus
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., said in a statement that the virtual Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus meeting with President Joe Biden Friday afternoon was "productive."
"President Biden heard our concerns and was energetic, responsive, and clear in communicating his messages and goals," she said. "I thank the President for taking the time to have this meeting and hear our concerns."
—Riley Beggin
The Biden-be-gone bandwagon: These Dems have asked him to leave the 2024 race
Only a small minority of the 213 members of the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, and the 50 Democrats or Democratic-aligned independents in the Senate, have called for Biden to drop out of his race for reelection. But their fast-growing number is hard to keep track of, so USA Today has done it for you: We have compiled the definitive list of all 18 House members who have called for Biden to step aside, along with the most prominent former lawmakers such as former Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and former Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio.
—Kathryn Palmer
Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., calls on Biden to step aside
Rep. Mike Levin is the 18th House member to call for President Joe Biden to leave the presidential race.
The California Democrat said in a statement that he has heard from "several hundred" constituents about Biden's debate performance, adding to his own concern about the president's candidacy. Levin added that Biden has been "an outstanding leader" but that it is time for him to "pass the torch."
"We must prevail against the incalcuable threat Donald Trump poses to the American institutions of freedom and democracy," he said. "Donald Trump actively seeks a bleak authoritarianism and the overthrow of the values which have guided us towards justice and prosperity for nearly two and a half centuries."
"Once again, our national mettle must be forged in the crucible of history. It is time to move forward.With a new leader. Together.”
—Riley Beggin
Biden meeting with Congressional caucuses
President Joe Biden is meeting virtually with various congressional caucuses as a chaotic week on Capitol Hill winds down.
He is meeting this afternoon with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and will meet tomorrow with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, according to sources familiar with the meetings.
He has also reportedly scheduled meetings with the centrist New Democrat Coalition and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Biden met earlier this week with the Congressional Black Caucus.
—Riley Beggin
Biden keeping up with Trump in new poll
Biden and Trump are nearly tied in new poll results released Friday by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist.
Despite the president's rocky debate performance and ensuing party fallout, Biden leads Trump 50% to 48% in a head-to-head contest. This is a one-point increase for Biden from last month's poll by the same groups.
—Savannah Kuchar
Biden campaign glows about press conference, but was it enough?
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign and his strongest allies came away pleased with Biden’s performance during his 59-minute press conference Thursday, convinced he passed the test demanded by his skeptics.
Yet it’s still unclear whether it was enough to stem the tide of Democratic detractors, with new Democrats in Congress on Friday calling for him to withdraw from the race.
The reviews from Biden world were glowing – that he showed a mastery of complex foreign policy issues, took the fight to Donald Trump and demonstrated he’s up for the rigor of the campaign.
“Honestly, I worried that Biden could only lose in this press conference. I was wrong. He comes out a winner. Big time,” Geoff Garin, a Biden pollster, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“You saw the president’s command of policy issues around the world,” Ron Klain, Biden’s former White House chief of staff, said Friday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:”
Still, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in a letter to Democratic colleagues Friday recounting his meeting with Biden after the debate, did not say whether he told Biden to stay in the race. Instead, Jeffries wrote that he “expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusion about the path forward” held by House Democrats.
Quentin Fulks, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, told MSNBC Friday that Biden and Jeffries “had a very good conversation, a substantive conversation,” but did not elaborate further.
—Joey Garrison
Another House Democrat asks Biden to 'pass the torch'
Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., released a statement Friday saying that Biden "saved our country once, and I'm joining the growing number of people in my district and across the country to ask him to do it again."
"Please pass the torch to one of our many capable Democratic leaders so we have the best chane to defeat Donald Trump, who is the greatest threat to the foundation of this country that we have ever faced."
Pettersen, a freshman Democrat, is the 17th member of her caucus to call for Biden to step aside, with a slow drip of announcements increasing in recent days.
—Riley Beggin
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Biden last night
As the House Democratic caucus wrapped up a week of internal discussions over Biden's fitness to represent them on the November ballot, their leader met with President Joe Biden, according to a letter released by his team Friday morning.
Jeffries said he "request and was graciously granted" a private meeting with Biden last night, during which he "directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together."
He concluded the letter noting that House Democrats will "continue to work in the best interests of everyday Americans."
Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have been listening to their members throughout the week but have not publicly pushed for an outcome in the debate over whether Biden should remain the nominee. Both have publicly stated they are personally supportive of Biden.
—Riley Beggin
David Axelrod says Joe Biden’s team has sheltered him from reality
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod said the debate around President Joe Biden’s candidacy is playing out publicly because his team has sheltered him from it in an appearance on CNN Thursday.
He told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the president’s aids did not want to have conversations about his age, but that Biden’s debate performance became a “break glass situation.”
During his NATO press conference Thursday, Biden said the only way he would exit the 2024 race is if his team told him he could not win. Axelrod, who has grown increasingly critical of his campaign in recent weeks, responded in a social media postsaying hischances of winning reelection are “very very slim.”
“If what he said at the end of his presser is true, it sounds like Biden's team has not been very candid with him about what the data is showing: the age issue is a huge and potentially insurmountable concern,” Axelrod said.
—Rachel Barber
Ashley Judd joins list calling for Biden's exit
Ashley Judd echoed fellow celebrities and a growing group of lawmakers calling for Biden to step back from the election. In a opinion piece published Friday, the 56-year-old actress said she believes Biden as nominee will not be able to defeat Republican opponent Trump.
"The defense of our cherished rights and freedoms, the moral imperative that we do better by more people, and our bodies, cannot be left to voters who see and are frightened of the consequences of President Biden's obvious limitations, or who are now not going to vote," Judd wrote. "We take the risk of an off night and minimize the warning signs at our gravest peril."
—Savannah Kuchar
What is Biden's schedule today?
The president will leave the White House this afternoon for an evening campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan.
Biden then heads home to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware later tonight.
—Savannah Kuchar
Clyburn stays 'all in' on Biden
Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., credited with Biden's success in 2020, continued to defend the president and his decision to stay in the 2024 election.
"I am all in. I'm riding with Biden," Clyburn said, adding that he thinks conversation around Biden dropping out should conclude.
"... Let Joe Biden continue to make his own decisions about his future. He's earned that right, and I am going to give him that much respect."
—Savannah Kuchar
Who could Democrats nominate if Biden drops out?
Several names have been floated as replacements for the Democratic incumbent. Vice President Kamala Harris would most likely be the top choice, according to Reuters, but the outlet cites Harris’ difficult start to the job and poor polling numbers as potential hurdles.
Other names that have been mentioned include California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who are also seen as viable contenders. These possible replacements are currently Biden supporters working to re-elect the president.
Despite the mounting calls, Biden remains defiant. “I’m getting so frustrated by the elites ... any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention,” he told MSNBC earlier this week.
– Ryan Ross and Jeremy Yurow
Will Biden be replaced?
Barring a very messy intra-party revolt, the Democratic presidential nominationis Biden's to accept – or decline. And so far the president has pushed back on growing calls for his exit with seemingly no intention yet of stepping away.
If Biden were to change his mind and drop his bid for reelection, focus would then turn to finding a replacement for the top of the ticket. Vice President Kamala Harris, already first in line for the presidency, is a favored candidate for the position.
– Savannah Kuchar
