WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Friday forcefully defied the growing number of critics in his own party who have called on him to exit the race, pivoting to warnings about a second Donald Trump term and declaring he was “not done yet.”
As a raucous Detroit crowd chanted “don’t you quit!” and “we got your back!” Biden said — again — that he was still running for reelection and vowed to “shine a spotlight on Donald Trump" and what the Republican would do if he returned to the White House. Biden lambasted an expansive far-right policy agenda crafted by conservative think tanks that Trump has scrambled to distance himself from, while ticking off several items on his own wish list for the first 100 days of his second term.
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At the same school where, four years ago, then-candidate Biden positioned himself as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders, the embattled president, who has been under pressure for more than two weeks to step aside, made it clear he was going nowhere.
“You made me the nominee, no one else — not the press, not the pundits, not the insiders, not donors," Biden said, to cheers. “You, the voters. You decided. No one else. And I'm not going anywhere.”
The show of force from Biden at the evening rally was part of his team's relentless sprint to convince fretting lawmakers, nervous donors and a skeptical electorate that at the age of 81, he is still capable of being president. But a spate of travel to battleground states, interviews with journalists and a rare solo news conference have not tamped down the angst within the party about Biden's candidacy and his prospects against Trump in November.
So far, one Democratic senator and roughly 20 House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Democrats he had met privately with Biden after the news conference, sharing the “full breadth” of views from lawmakers about the path forward in the president’s campaign for reelection. Earlier Friday, in a virtual meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Biden was told directly by California Rep. Mike Levin that he should step down as the Democratic nominee, according to three people familiar with that call who were granted anonymity to discuss it.
But the support Biden retains among Democrats was clear among the hundreds of supporters at the rally, who waved signs that read “Motown is Joetown” and enthusiastically cheered the president's remarks — and jeered at any mention of Trump.
“He inherited millions of dollars only to squander it. He’s filed for bankruptcy six times," Biden said. "He even went bankrupt running a casino. I didn’t think that was even possible. Doesn’t the house always win in a casino?”
He also singled out Project 2025, a massive proposed overhaul of the federal government drafted by longtime allies and former officials in the Trump administration that Trump has insisted he knows “nothing” of.
“You heard about it? It’s a blueprint for a second Trump term that every American should read and understand," Biden said, accusing his opponent of trying to run from the plan “just like he's trying to distance himself from overturning Roe vs. Wade because he knows how toxic it is. But we're not gonna let that happen.”
Biden also criticized the media, claiming was focusing on his errors and not on Trump’s. It prompted his supporters to boo reporters in the room — a staple of Trump rallies — though Biden tried briefly to calm the jeers, saying “no, no, no.”
He smiled, though, when the audience repeatedly chanted “lock him up” in reference to Trump, who was convicted on felony charges in New York relating to his hush money payments to an adult film actress around the 2016 election. Trump frequently encouraged the same chant regarding his political opponents.
The Biden campaign and the White House did not immediately respond when asked if Biden condoned the chant.
Biden's campaign has indirectly acknowledged that Biden's route to the White House is narrowing, saying the so-called “blue wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is now the “clearest pathway” to victory even while insisting other battleground states like Arizona and Nevada are not out of reach.
That strategy is reflected in how Biden is redoubling his efforts in the Midwestern states, hitting Detroit nearly one week after he campaigned in Madison, Wisconsin; Philadelphia; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Rallying enthusiasm in Detroit and among its sizable Black population could prove decisive for Biden’s chances of winning Michigan, which Biden reclaimed in 2020 after Trump won it four years prior by just over 10,000 votes.
Campaign aides underscored the enthusiasm for Biden after his news conference at the conclusion of this week's NATO summit. Communications director Michael Tyler said donations “exploded," saying there were 40,000 contributions on Thursday night — a clip that was seven times the average.
But at a critical juncture when Biden needs to consolidate support, key Democratic leaders in the state were notably absent Friday.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is co-chair of Biden’s campaign, was out of the state. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is vying for Michigan’s open Senate seat, were also not there. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, whom Biden actively courted during last year’s strikes, was traveling for a conference.
Rep. Hillary Scholten, who is seeking reelection in a battleground district in western Michigan, is among the lawmakers who've called on Biden to step aside.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, one of the more prominent Democratic leaders appearing with Biden on Friday, refused to say whether she believed Biden should still be the party’s presidential nominee.
“I’m just focused on making sure people know what’s at stake this year and know how to exercise their vote,” she said.
But in a swing state that he won by close to 3 percentage points in 2020, Biden continued to command support. Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rep. Haley Stevens, Rep. Shri Thanedar and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler accompanied Biden on Air Force One from Washington to Detroit, in Biden's fourth trip to the state this year. Also attending was Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer. And over a dozen Detroit-area state lawmakers signed onto a joint letter Thursday “to express our unwavering support" for Biden.
After the rally, Ken Jacobs, 71, said Biden’s speech, which stretched to over 30 minutes, should put to rest any talk that he couldn’t handle another four years in office.
“He should repeat that exact speech at the Democratic convention,” said Jacobs. “It shows that he has the stamina for this.”
Anne Baxter, 62, said Biden is correct in staying in the race and decried the media, celebrities and other Democratic leaders calling on him to step down.
“I’m glad he’s not listening to these knuckleheads, because it's not the base,” the retired teacher said. “You heard these people here.”
In 2016, Trump won Michigan by a thin margin attributed in part to reduced turnout in predominantly Black areas like Detroit’s Wayne County, where Hillary Clinton received far fewer votes than Barack Obama did in previous elections.
Biden reclaimed much of that support four years ago, when he defeated Trump in Michigan by a 154,000-vote margin, but he has work to do. Detroit, which holds a population that is nearly 78% Black, saw a 12% turnout in the Feb. 27 primary, almost half that of the 23% total turnout in the state.
Key parts of Biden’s coalition in Michigan are also upset with him over Israel’s offensive following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Michigan holds the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation, contributing to over 100,000 people voting “Uncommitted” in Michigan’s Democratic primary in February.
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Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Isabella Volmert in Detroit and Farnoush Amiri, Mary Clare Jalonick and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.