Biden Holds Firm as Worried Democrats Take Their Case Directly to Him
After the House minority leader visited the White House to share Democrats’ concerns over his candidacy, the president held a tense virtual session with lawmakers in which he resisted a call to step aside.
Reporting from Washington
President Biden fought back on Friday against escalating pressure from Democrats questioning his viability as a candidate, publicly and privately defending his decision to continue running as rank-and-file lawmakers continued to call on him to end his re-election bid.
One day after a serviceable news conference that had been meant to quell the growing resistance within the party to Mr. Biden’s candidacy, Democratic lawmakers returned to their home districts anxious and uncertain about how to proceed. Their House leader made it clear directly to Mr. Biden that his members still harbored deep concerns over the president’s candidacy. And as he held a rally in the battleground state of Michigan, prominent Democrats were not by his side.
But at the rally in a high school gymnasium in Detroit, Mr. Biden was dug in, telling a raucous throng of supporters, “I’m not going anywhere.” What he saw there was unlikely to change his mind. An adoring crowd chanted “Don’t you quit!” as Mr. Biden delivered a fiery message, at times poking fun at former President Donald J. Trump as he drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor.
In a Trumpian move, the president at one point pointed to the press stands and said, “They’ve been hammering me,” eliciting boos from the crowd. “Guess what — Donald Trump has gotten a free pass.”
Back in Washington, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, revealed that he had a one-on-one meeting at the White House with Mr. Biden on Thursday to relay his members’ sentiments at a time when many House Democrats harbor grave concerns about the president’s ability to defeat Mr. Trump in November.
In a letter to colleagues on Friday that notably did not endorse Mr. Biden’s decision to stay in the race, Mr. Jeffries did not reveal what he had told the president, but said he had passed along what he had been hearing from Democrats — many of whom have told him over the past week that the president must step aside.
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An earlier version of this article misspelled the given name of a spokeswoman for Representative Hakeem Jeffries. She is Christiana Stephenson, not Christina.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.Learn more
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times. She writes features and profiles, with a recent focus on House Republican leadership. More about Annie Karni
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