Two weeks ago, alarms went off after President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance. Amid increasing calls from within his own party for him to drop out of the presidential race, he made it clear Thursday night during a highly-anticipated news conference that he intends to stay on as the Democratic nominee.
“I’m determined on running, but I think it’s important that I allay fears by letting them see me out there,” Biden said.
It was a rough start to the president’s first solo news conference since November, where he mixed up names, even referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
However, that wasn’t the only gaffe of the day. Earlier at the NATO summit, he accidentally introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin.”
Biden’s news conference featured gaffes, but also offered detailed answers on complex foreign policy issues.
“I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president,” Biden said. “There are other people that could beat Trump, too… but (they’d have to) start from scratch.”
He fielded multiple questions from White House reporters about concerns over whether he’s fit for the office, ranging from whether he should take a cognitive test to whether he can win the race against former President Donald Trump and whether he wants these recent weeks to be his legacy.
“I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m in this to complete the job I started,” the president responded.
In the days since the CNN presidential debate, seventeen House Democrats, including three from Illinois – U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley, Brad Schneider and Eric Sorensen – have called for the president to drop out of the race, along with some high-profile donors like George Clooney.
Biden has met with Democratic governors and mayors from around the country in an effort to persuade them that he should remain the Democratic nominee.
During the news conference, the president disparaged polling data that has Trump winning the race and dismissed reports that he told the nation’s governors he needed to go to bed earlier.
“That’s not true. Look, what I said was: Instead of my everyday starting at 7 and going to bed at midnight, it’d be smarter for me to pace myself a little more,” Biden said.
At the end of the news conference, he was asked whether he would step aside if polling showed Harris would fare better than him against Trump.
“No, unless they came back and said there’s no way you can win. No one’s saying that. No poll says that,” Biden said.