'I've been doing this a long time': Joe Biden courts pivotal Pennsylvania voters after rocky debate
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden made his pitch Sunday to pivotal Pennsylvania voters as Democrats nationwide debated whether he should withdraw from the 2024 election in the wake of his catastrophic debate.
“I’ve been doing this a long time," Biden told congregants at Mount Airy Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia. "And I honest to God have never been more optimistic about America’s future – if we stick together."
In brief remarks during a Sunday church service, the 81-year-old Biden joked about his age but did not otherwise mention calls for him to pass the torch. He also did not explicitly cite Republican opponent Donald Trump by name, but he said the presidential election is about protecting rights under threat.
"We have to bring back dignity and hope in America," Biden said.
Biden on Sunday also attended a community organizing event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The president campaigned as House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., held a virtual meeting Sunday with top House Democrats, a few of whom reportedly want to replace Biden as the nominee with Vice President Kamala Harris.
And Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is reportedly organizing a similar meeting of senators to discuss Biden's candidacy.
The president, who has vowed not to drop out of the 2024 race for the White House, said in a post on X earlier in the day that "there has never been more at stake." Echoing the defiant pledge to remain in the race that he made Friday during an interview with ABC News, Biden said: "We are going to win this election and beat Donald Trump."
In the meantime, Democrats discussed if Biden should carry on after a disastrous debate last month and lingering questions about his age, or whether he should potentially back Harris as the 2024 Democratic nominee.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told CNN's "State of the Union" that while he still supports Biden, many voters have questions about whether he still has the capacity to defeat Trump.
"This is a really critical week," Murphy said. "I do think the clock is ticking."
Biden's team served notice he won't go without a struggle.
During his visit to a Pennsylvania campaign office, a supporter said "we need Dark Brandon back," a reference to a meme in which a mean-looking Biden in sunglasses suggests he will do whatever it takes to win.
Replied Biden: “Dark Brandon is coming back."
The White House said the president is already scheduling events for the week of July 15, the same time that Trump and the Republicans are holding their convention in Milwaukee. Biden's schedule that week includes trips to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and the NAACP national convention in Las Vegas.
Several Democrats on Sunday praised Biden's administration, but they didn't deny voters' concerns about the president's age.
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who opposed Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary told CBS' "Face The Nation" he would not be attending the Warner meeting. Sanders said Biden deserves the chance to demonstrate he should remain the nominee.
"I understand Biden had a terrible debate performance," Sanders told CBS. "I think he’s done better since. He’s got to do better again."
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat, said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that Biden needs to consider a basic decision: "Can he beat Donald Trump?"
"It should not be even close," Schiff said. "And there's only one reason it is close, and that's the president's age."
Biden and his aides in recent days have zeroed in on attacking Trump. They have said the former president wants to replace non-partisan government workers with partisan ideologues to implement an extreme agenda on items like abortion and climate change.
The former president has said states should set their own abortion restrictions and bans, and he's opposed most of the climate change efforts backed by Biden.
Allies of the president have also focused on Project 2025, a creation of the conservative Heritage Foundation that has developed its own agenda for a second Trump presidency.
Still, a trickle of Democratic lawmakers and donors began calling on Biden to exit the race over the weekend.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., on Saturday cited Biden's debate performance and "the lack of a forceful response" to the criticism.
"I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump," Craig said.
Other House Democrats who have called on Biden to step aside: Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley and Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva.
Biden does have defenders.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who accompanied Biden on his tour of Pennsylvania, shared on X on Friday that that "Democrats need to get a spine or grow a set - one or the other. Joe Biden is our guy."
During the church service Sunday in Philadelphia, Bishop J. Louis Felton said that “we are together because we love our president," and noted that he was sitting next to a church member who is 91 years old.
"And so, Mr. President, since you are only an octogenarian sitting next to a nonagenarian, don't let anybody talk about your age," Felton said. "You are a young whippersnapper."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden courts Pennsylvania voters as Dems debate his campaign future