middle NBC News There have been reports that former Vice President Biden’s family is planning to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election, which has been hit hard by the spread of the new coronavirus, but one of Biden’s key aides told the media that President Biden is “running to win.”
The mixed messaging comes as pressure on the Delaware Democrat to step down has been ongoing for weeks since last month’s debate.
“We’re prepared for this close election and we see a path forward,” Jen O’Malley Dillon said on “Morning Joe” on Friday.
“He’s the leader of our campaign and our country, and it’s clear to me that based on our impression, what we’ve built, and his engagement with voters, he’s the best person to take on Donald Trump, to pursue that case and to present his vision,” she added.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates also cited reports of pressure from former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as well as more than two dozen Democrats who have publicly said they want the octogenarian to drop out of the race, but Bates denied that the president is changing course.
“That will never happen,” he told NBC. “Those who make these allegations are not speaking on behalf of his family or team, and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.”
Biden’s battleground manager, Dan Kanninen, also argued in a memo on the state of the campaign distributed to media on Friday that the president will be the nominee when delegates are counted in Chicago.
“At the Democratic National Convention next month, the choice will be even clearer for the American people. You will hear about a brighter future for our country: better jobs, safer communities, and an unwavering commitment to protect your rights. And Joe Biden will be there as the official Democratic nominee,” he said.
And despite data showing Trump leading Biden in every battleground state, the Biden campaign believes it has a path to victory in battleground states where it is polling heavily. The strategy, Kanninen said, is to “focus on the issues that matter most to battleground state voters.”
The Biden campaign also has more than 1,000 staffers in seven battleground states, with more on the way.
The ad buy is also key to addressing issues like abortion and the oft-debated think tank proposal “Project 2025,” which the Biden campaign continues to link without evidence to the Trump campaign. The TV spots, airing Friday in the Atlanta, Raleigh, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Milwaukee media markets, target “voters of color in battleground states” with the theme of “Black maternal health” in a post-Dobbs world where abortion regulation is left to the states.
And while the Biden campaign is touting the support as a show of unity, there are plenty of caveats.
BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket on Friday, saying it would “mobilize the community” on behalf of the embattled incumbent.
But it turns out CHCs are not speaking with a unified voice. Chuy Garcia About an hour after the Biden campaign publicly touted what might have been a perfunctory political action committee endorsement in normal times, he joined three other Democratic lawmakers in issuing a statement Friday calling on Biden to resign.
