Biden campaign chair: President ‘in this race to win’
President Biden’s reelection campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, insisted Friday that the incumbent is staying in the White House race amid reports he could drop out over the next few days.
“Absolutely, the president’s in this race,” O’Malley Dillon said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked by co-host Mika Brzezinski if Biden is still in the race, saying Biden “is more committed than ever to beat Donald Trump.”
“We believe on this campaign, we are built for the close election we are in and we see the path forward,” she added. “He’s the best person to take on Donald Trump.“
When asked how the Biden campaign responds to Democrats who say the president can’t win in November, O’Malley Dillon admitted to a “tough several weeks” since calls for Biden to step aside started to pile up following the president’s dismal debate performance June 27.
“I’m not here to say that this hasn’t been a tough several weeks for the campaign — no doubt it has been, and we’ve definitely seen some slippage in support, but it has been a small movement,” she said. “This entire campaign has been built for how close this race is going to be.”
“For us, we know that people are not moving from Joe Biden to Donald Trump. What they’re doing is they’re saying to us, can he do it? And the president’s saying, ‘Yes I can,’” she said.
Biden, his campaign team and the White House have been insistent for the past three weeks that he is not dropping out of the race.
Sources told The Hill the president is expected to make a decision about his political future in the coming days.
“He’s absolutely in it, and then he’s got to show that he is fighting for the American people,” O’Malley Dillon said Friday.
“You have heard from the president directly time and time again. He is in this race to win and he is our nominee and he’s going to be our president for a second term,” she said when pressed on the flurry of reports about Biden potentially stepping aside.
Biden has faced a growing push among Democrats for him to step off the 2024 ticket, including recent calls from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Also this week, reports surfaced of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) pressuring him to drop out.
“Morning Joe’s” Willie Geist questioned O’Malley Dillon on concerns fellow Democrats have over if Biden will be a drag on the ticket for downballot races such as Tester’s, where a Democratic incumbent is trying to hold on to a red-state seat.
“I know that the president knows better than anyone how to run and win locally,” she responded.
And, when asked about reports that Pelosi is pressuring Biden to drop out, she responded, “I think every person believes that we have to defeat Donald Trump. We are united in that.”
O’Malley Dillon said the campaign has knocked on 100,000 doors in the past week and shared internal data that indicated 76 percent of voters told them they’re with Biden, and 16 percent said they are undecided and have questions over if Biden’s in the race.
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