Biden expected to drop out of 2024 race within a week: sources
A beleaguered President Joe Biden is expected to bow out of the 2024 race within a week, the Herald has learned.
Sources in Washington report Biden, although clinging to hope he can somehow rebound, is listening to calls to relinquish the re-election reins to Vice President Kamala Harris.
This comes as reports swirl of former President Barack Obama leaning on his 81-year-old former running mate to back down for the good of the Democratic party.
Biden’s chances of beating former President Donald Trump have “greatly diminished,” the Washington Post reports Obama as saying “behind the scenes,” and top Democrats — including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — are echoing that message.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland congressman and anti-Trump stalwart, is quoted as using Thomas Paine — along with a reference to the Red Sox collapse in the 2003 championship series — urging Biden to exercise the party’s collective “common sense” and “caucus with the team” and “make the right decision,” the New York Times states. Raskin compares Biden to an exhausted Pedro Martínez being left in Game 7 of that series when he gave up three runs to the hated Yankees, who won in extra innings.
“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics,” Raskin writes, the Times adds.
As the Herald reported, influential Congressman Adam Schiff is also pushing for Biden to get out now.
“I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November,” Schiff said in a statement.
Schiff urged Biden to step aside in order to “secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election,” the Associated Press reported. Both Schiff and Obama stress it is up to Biden to decide what is best for the party.
The Herald has learned that “multiple senators and donors” have told Biden his path to re-election “is just not there,” a source said.
Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Thursday Biden is “not wavering on anything,” the AP states.
Biden is now sheltering at his Delaware home recuperating from COVID-19. It was also reported this week the president stated in a taped TV interview that he’d step down if some medical ailment forced him to do so. It’s not clear if that statement was a hypothetical or floated for the coming week.
The news is not good for the Democratic party, especially after Biden’s dismal debate and NATO press conference performances.
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An Emerson College poll, sponsored by Democrats for the Next Generation, found Trump leading Biden nationally and in seven battleground states, according to a survey published Thursday. It found 46% of registered voters say they support Trump, compared to 42% who chose Biden with 12% undecided.
The Democratic National Committee has stated it is pushing ahead with plans to hold a virtual roll call to nominate Biden before the Aug. 19-22 convention in Chicago. That would be moot once Biden drops out.
The list of Democratic politicians calling for Biden to give up and ghost has grown to 21 — with U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Salem) telling the Herald on July Fourth he has “grave concerns” with Biden’s ability to defeat Trump.
Former President Barack Obama, in this file photo from last year, is adding to those pushing President Joe Biden to consider dropping out of the 2024 race. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)