Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, ignored a question about the feasibility of a Biden campaign at an event for his own reelection Monday.
Brown, who is running in what is expected to be the closest Senate race in the country, said he would not weigh in on the debate about whether Biden should stop campaigning.
“I’m not going to criticize people in my party or what they say or what Republicans say. I’m not a pundit,” Brown said when asked about the president at the Youngstown event, his campaign said.
“I’ve spoken to people across Ohio,” he continued, “who have legitimate questions about whether the president should continue campaigning, and I will continue to listen to people.”
A growing number of Democrats are calling for Biden to resign amid concerns about his age and his electoral prospects following his lackluster performance in last month’s debate.
Five House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to withdraw from the campaign, and four more senior members said at a leadership meeting on Sunday that Biden should step aside.
While no Senate Democrats have explicitly called on Biden to stop campaigning, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have criticized the president in recent days.
The president has rejected those requests, promising to stay in the race and prove himself to voters. During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, Biden struck a defiant tone toward critics within his party.
“I’m frustrated with the elites in my party who say, ‘They know so much more,'” Biden said. “Those who don’t think I should run, I want them to run against me. I want them to announce their candidacy for president and challenge me at the convention.”
“I’m not going to give you any more instruction on what to do or not do. I’m running,” he later added.
The presidential race remains close. The Hill/Decision Desk average of national polls shows Trump leading the president by 1.2 percentage points. In Ohio, Trump has an average lead of 8.4 percentage points, with Brown leading Republican rival Bernie Moreno by 6.3 percentage points.
