President Joe Biden said on Friday that he planned to defeat Republican competitor Donald Trump in the November presidential election, with no indication that he would contemplate withdrawing from the campaign.
Biden was saying this following a poor debate performance that disappointed his fellow Democrats.
“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” an ebullient Biden said at a rally one day after the head-to-head showdown with his Republican rival—a showdown widely viewed as a defeat for the 81-year-old president.
“I don’t walk as easily as I used to; I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to; I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he said, as the crowd chanted, “Four more years.”
“I would not be running again if I didn’t believe with all my heart and soul that I could do this job. The stakes are too high,” Biden said.
Biden’s verbal mumbles and occasionally meandering remarks throughout the debate raised fears among voters that he would not be fit to serve another four-year term.
This prompted some of his Democratic colleagues to consider replacing him as their candidate for the November 5 election in the United States.
Michael Tyler, campaign spokesperson, stated that no discussions about such a prospect were going on.
“We’d rather have one bad night than a candidate with a bad vision for where he wants to take the country,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
According to two people familiar with the discussion, campaign managers conducted an “all-hands-on-deck” meeting on Friday afternoon to reassure staffers that Biden would not withdraw from the race.
Though Trump, 78, told a series of falsehoods throughout the discussion, the spotlight thereafter was fully on Biden, particularly among Democrats.
When asked if he still supported Biden’s candidature, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Party leader in the United States House of Representatives, avoided replying directly.
“I support the ticket. I support the Senate Democratic majority. We will do everything possible to take back the house in November. Thank you, everyone,” he told reporters.
When asked if Biden should stay in the race, some other Democrats also declined to comment.
“That’s the president’s decision,” Democratic Senator Jack Reed told a local TV station in Rhode Island.
