US President Joe Biden has renewed his commitment to running his tough re-election campaign, telling voters in the key state of Michigan that he is the best choice despite growing calls for him to drop out of the race.
“I'm going to run and we're going to win,” he told a crowd holding signs in his support at a rally in Detroit.
“I'm the candidate,” he said Friday. “I'm not going anywhere.”
Biden, 81, continues to face challenges over his mental acuity and calls to resign following a disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump on June 27.
Reporting from Detroit, Al Jazeera's John Hendren noted that there is a large Arab and Muslim American population in Michigan, concentrated in Dearborn, just south of Detroit.
“To put that in perspective, in the primaries, Biden got about 600,000 votes in Michigan, easily outpacing any other rival, but about 100,000 voters voted ‘uncommitted.’ These were mostly Arab and Muslim Americans and young Americans who are upset about his handling of the war in Gaza,” he said.
“Biden has to get those voters to change their minds, but he’s also in a bad place among black voters, young voters and Hispanic voters. He’s down from where he was in the polls last time, so it’s a problem across the board for him. He’s just not drawing the same numbers he did four years ago.”
During his tour of Michigan, Biden stood by his rhetoric that a second Trump presidency would pose a threat to the country.
“Do they really want to go back to the chaos of the Donald Trump era as president, when the United States lost three million jobs?” he said.
Biden also said he intends to codify abortion rights, sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, raise the minimum wage and move toward banning assault weapons during the first 100 days of his second term — something that would require Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and fellow Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters did not attend Biden's rally, but several union and religious leaders did.
Among them was United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who praised the president for standing “with the working class.”
But a group of lawmakers, political donors, activist groups, media outlets and Hollywood stars have called on the president to step aside and allow another candidate to lead the party.
'Let's save Palestinian lives'
A group of protesters gathered for Biden's rally in Detroit, seeking to voice their concerns about the rising death toll in Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, activist Lexis Zeidan said the protesters had a unifying purpose: “to save Palestinian lives.”
Zeidan was among the organizers of the “uncommitted” movement, in which hundreds of thousands of voters across the country cast their ballots in protest against Biden’s policy toward Israel during the primaries.
“The goal was to make him understand that if he did not listen to the demands of the people, which is to guarantee a permanent ceasefire… then he would lose the White House,” he said.
Zeidan added that there is still a chance Biden could win back some voters in the key state, but only if he shows an abrupt shift.
The United States remains Israel's main political and military supporter. In a post on X on Friday, Biden hinted that progress was being made in diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, saying both Israel and Hamas had agreed to a “framework” he laid out six weeks ago.
But recent ceasefire negotiations in Egypt and then Qatar with international mediators have yet to produce any agreement.
Community advocate Suehaila Amen said Arab and Muslim Americans in the Detroit area feel “disenfranchised and disrespected” by their unconditional support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
“He is a warmonger and a supporter of genocide. He continues to aid and abet genocide against innocent civilians in Gaza,” Amen told Al Jazeera.
“Biden continues to demonstrate to the international community that all he cares about is ensuring that his allies have carte blanche to massacre at will with our tax dollars to fund the murder of innocent men, women and children. He is an embarrassment to the nation as a leader.”
