President Joe Biden will seek to counter growing opposition within his own party on Thursday, sending advisers to meet with Democratic senators to shore up his support and holding his first solo news conference in nearly eight months as he seeks to address concerns about his age.
Biden's re-election campaign has been on the ropes for two weeks, ever since the 81-year-old incumbent's faltering debate performance against Donald Trump, his 78-year-old Republican rival, raised fresh questions about his age and mental acuity — concerns voters had long raised in public opinion polls.
Last week, there was a steady stream of elected Democrats calling on Biden to end his campaign, citing concerns that he could not only lose the White House but also cost the party control of both chambers of Congress.
Peter Welch on Wednesday night became the first Democratic US senator to call on Biden to drop out, joining at least nine Democratic members of the House of Representatives who have called on the president to withdraw from the race.
Welch, a first-term senator from Vermont, said Biden should end his candidacy “for the good of the country.”
Several high-profile lawmakers have said Biden should stay in the race, and many others, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have declined to say definitively whether he should drop out.
Everyone will likely be watching closely at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time (2130 GMT), when Biden is scheduled to take questions from the White House press corps.
In his first formal solo news conference since November 2023, Biden will have to speak off the cuff on a wide range of topics, including likely questions about whether his doctors have found evidence of mental decline.
A White House official said it was expected to have a similar format to Biden’s last solo news conference, when the president called on four reporters who asked him about topics ranging from defending Taiwan to the deaths in Gaza and then answered some questions shouted at him.
Biden may call on a few more reporters this time, according to a person briefed on the matter.
His casual reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “dictator” at the end of the news conference capped a carefully planned summit with Xi and prompted an angry response from China.
It will be Biden's least impromptu appearance since the June 27 debate, where he appeared to lose his train of thought several times and stumbled over several responses.
An interview with ABC News More alarm bells were raised last week when Biden said he would be satisfied if he lost the election as long as he did his best.
Previous interactions with White House reporters have also taken their toll. In February, Biden mixed up the presidents of Egypt and Mexico at an impromptu news conference he called to refute a prosecutor’s assessment that he had a poor memory.
Ahead of the news conference, several top advisers, including Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon, will meet with Democratic senators at a luncheon in an effort to shore up support in the chamber where he served from 1973 to 2009.
TO Reuters/Ipsos A poll released last week found Biden and Trump tied at 40% each. Other opinion polls indicate Trump is widening his lead over Biden.
Biden has seen his fundraising lead over Trump disappear in recent months, and some high-profile Democratic donors, including actor George Clooney, are calling for him to step aside.
He has insisted he will not withdraw and that party rules make it virtually impossible for anyone else to win the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in August unless he steps aside.
Democrats would also have to figure out how to either hand the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris or give others, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a chance to make their case.
