'I'm OK,' Biden reassures voters in bid to rescue troubled campaign

President Joe Biden sought to reassure voters of his fitness for office amid growing calls from fellow Democrats to drop his bid for a second term. 
 

“I promise you, I’m OK,” Biden, 81, told a crowd gathered at a Detroit restaurant before a Friday campaign event.
 

“I was the second youngest man ever elected to the United States Senate. Anyway. Now I’m too old,” the president said. “But I know, hopefully, with a little bit of age comes a little bit of wisdom.”
 

Biden’s efforts to address one of his biggest political liabilities underscored the extent to which questions over his age continue to dominate the national political conversation, even as he’s eager to redirect voters’ attention to Donald Trump’s policy agenda.
 

 

Biden traveled to the battleground state of Michigan for an event where he plans to deliver a speech hitting the “Project 2025” blueprint put forward by Trump backers that calls for mass deportations, culturally conservative policies and politicizing the civil service, campaign officials said. 
 

The president has struggled to land punches against Trump amid mounting public scrutiny about his age and competence. 

Biden’s trip is his latest attempt to rescue his reelection campaign, which has come under siege from a growing number of fellow Democrats who have called on him to step aside. It’s part of a travel blitz over the next week intended to demonstrate he has the stamina to lead the country for another four years.
 

Biden remains determined to stay in the race, despite a calamitous debate performance and high-profile gaffes that have hardened perceptions that he is too old to be president. His defiance has demoralized party members who want him to stand down in favor of a younger nominee. 
 

The president’s choice of venue only serves to highlight that divide. Biden is slated to appear at the same Detroit school where in 2020, he stood beside Kamala Harris and other Democratic rising stars and called himself the “bridge” to the party’s next generation of leaders. 
 

“What changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited in terms of the economy, our foreign policy and domestic division,” Biden said at a Thursday news conference when asked why he did not follow through. “That’s the other reason why I didn’t, as you say, hand off to another generation. I’ve got to finish this job.”
 

Biden and his aides have been working feverishly since the June 27 debate to persuade lawmakers, donors and voters that he is capable of defeating Trump in November and leading the US. 
 

The slew of meetings, rallies and interviews — as well as Biden’s first solo news conference of the year — has not been enough to quell fears about his acuity and fitness for office. California Representative Mike Levin on a private call earlier Friday between Biden and Hispanic lawmakers directly challenged the president to withdraw, according to people familiar with the exchange. Levin afterward issued a statement calling on Biden to step down as the nominee.
 

The president plans to soldier on. He’s expected to sit for an interview on Monday with NBC News that will air in prime-time after marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act in Texas. He’ll then travel to Las Vegas to speak to two of the nation’s foremost Black and Latino advocacy groups. 
 

Biden made his problems worse on Thursday by confusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with Russian President Vladimir Putin while on stage with the former at the NATO summit, then mixing up Harris with Trump at his news conference. Those gaffes overshadowed what European leaders had said was a strong performance from Biden at the gathering. 
 

So far, 19 Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for Biden to end his presidential campaign, including three who did so almost immediately after the press conference. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most influential Democrats, has declined to offer a full-throated endorsement to Biden’s reelection bid, saying the decision whether to remain in the race is the president’s.  
 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Biden on Thursday evening to share “the full breadth” of lawmakers’ views “about the path forward” for his campaign, according to a letter to colleagues. The White House confirmed the meeting, but declined to comment on details of the conversation.

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