Biden cements party unity as he resists calls to step aside, says he’ll return to campaign next week

WASHINGTON (AP) — A fast-growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers called Friday for President Joe Biden to drop his re-election bid, even as the president insisted he is ready to return to the campaign trail next week to push back against what he called a “dark vision” laid out by Republican Donald Trump.

As more Democrats in Congress urged him to withdraw — bringing the total since his disastrous debate against Trump to nearly three dozen — Biden remained isolated at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with COVID-19. The president, who insisted he could beat Trump, has been catching up with family and leaning on some longtime aides as he resisted efforts to oust him.

On Friday night, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Democrat in a tough re-election race, called on Biden to resign.

Brown said in a statement that he agrees with “the many Ohioans” who have contacted him. “I believe the president should end his campaign,” he said.

And in a statement later Friday, Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., also called on Biden to withdraw, saying “there is no joy in acknowledging that he should not be our nominee in November. But the stakes of this election are too high.”

Biden said Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention showed a “dark vision for the future.” The president, eager to shift the political conversation from his fate to his rival’s agenda, said Friday he planned to return to the campaign trail next week and insisted he has a path to victory over Trump, despite concerns from some of his party’s most senior members.

“Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box,” Biden said. “The stakes are high and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”

Earlier in the day, his campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillion, acknowledged there had been a “slide” in support for the president, but stressed that he “absolutely” remains in the race and that the campaign sees “multiple paths” to defeat Trump.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to convince the American people that he’s old, but he can win,” she told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show, saying voters who are concerned about Biden’s fitness to lead won’t switch to Trump.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee’s regulatory office held a meeting Friday, pushing forward plans for a virtual slate of nominees by Aug. 7 to nominate the presidential candidate, ahead of the party’s convention later that month in Chicago.

“President Biden deserves the respect to have important family conversations with members of the caucus and colleagues in the House and Senate and the Democratic leadership and not have to fight leaks and press reports,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Biden’s best friend in Congress and his campaign manager, told The Associated Press.

These are pivotal days for the president and his party: Trump wrapped up a spirited Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Thursday. And Democrats, race-time, are weighing the extraordinary possibility that Biden will step aside for a new presidential nomination before their own convention.

Among the Democrats who voiced concerns about Biden’s chances were former President Barack Obama and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi has privately told Biden that the party could lose control of the House of Representatives if he doesn’t step aside.

New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich called on Biden to withdraw from the race, becoming the third Senate Democrat to do so.

“By passing the torch, he would secure his legacy as one of our country’s greatest leaders and allow us to unite behind a candidate who can best defeat Donald Trump and secure the future of our democracy,” said Heinrich, who is seeking re-election.

And Reps. Jared Huffman, Mark Veasey, Chuy Garcia and Mark Pocan, representing much of the caucus, jointly called on Biden to step aside.

“We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy,” they wrote.

Separately, Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois wrote in an op-ed that, with “a heavy heart and much personal reflection,” he also called on Biden to “pass the torch to a new generation.”

Campaign officials said Biden was even more determined to stay in the race. And senior West Wing aides have had no internal discussions or conversations with the president about dropping out.

On Friday, Biden received a major endorsement from the political wing of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. CHC BOLD PAC said the Biden administration has shown an “unwavering commitment” to Latinos and that “the stakes could not be higher” in this election.

But there is also time to rethink. Biden has been told that the campaign is struggling to raise money, and key Democrats see an opportunity now that he’s been off the campaign trail for a few days to push for his departure. Some in his Cabinet have resigned themselves to the likelihood of a November loss.

The reporting in this story is based in part on information from nearly a dozen people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive, private matters. The Washington Post first reported Obama’s involvement.

Biden, 81, tested positive for COVID-19 during a trip to Las Vegas earlier this week and experienced “mild symptoms” including “general malaise” from the infection, the White House said.

White House physician Kevin O’Connor said Friday that the president still had a dry cough and hoarseness, but that his COVID symptoms had improved.

Biden noted his illness when he made a joke about Trump on social media Friday night, posting: “I’m home with COVID so I had the great misfortune of watching Donald Trump’s speech to the RNC. What the hell was he talking about?”

In Congress, Democratic lawmakers have begun privately discussing whether to endorse Harris as an alternative. One lawmaker said Biden’s own advisers have been unable to reach a unanimous recommendation on what he should do. More in Congress are considering joining others who have called for Biden to withdraw. Some favor an open process for choosing a new presidential nominee.

“It’s clear that the problem is not going to go away,” said Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, the other Senate Democrat who has publicly said Biden should drop out of the race. Welch said the current state of partisan fear — with lawmakers panicking and donors revolting — was “not sustainable.”

However, influential Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are expressing concern.

“There is obviously still work to be done, and that’s because we are an evenly divided country,” Jeffries said Friday in an interview on WNYC radio.

But he also said, “The ticket that’s out there now is the ticket that we can win with. … It’s his decision.”

Sure, many want Biden to stay in the race. But among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate another candidate, according to a poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That undermines Biden’s post-debate claim that “average Democrats” still support him.

Amid all the turmoil, a majority of Democrats think Vice President Kamala Harris herself would make a good president.

A poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Harris would do well in the top job. About 2 in 10 Democrats don’t think she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

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Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, Ellen Knickmeyer in Aspen, Colorado, Steve Peoples in Milwaukee and Josh Boak, Will Weissert, Mary Clare Jalonick, Seung Min Kim and Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.