President Biden said in a letter to congressional Democrats on Monday that he was “firmly committed to staying in the race,” a defiant answer to allies on Capitol Hill who have been increasingly going public with calls for him to drop out.
“The question of how we move forward has been well aired for over a week now,” Mr. Biden wrote in the two-page letter, released by his campaign. “And it’s time for it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump.”
The letter comes one day after several senior House Democrats said during a private conference call that they believed Mr. Biden must step down from the race, adding enormous pressure on the president and his advisers.
In the letter — which appeared intended to head off any additional calls from lawmakers for him to step aside as lawmakers returned to Washington on Monday — Mr. Biden appears to have run out of patience with the chorus of criticism coming from Capitol Hill, the news media and elsewhere. The two-page letter is a rejection of the criticism, a denial of the allegations about his shortcomings and a demand for unity.
“We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election,” he wrote. “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us.”
The president repeated in the letter that he did not agree with the arguments being made against him. And he made no concessions about his age or his ability to perform the functions of the presidency or engage in a rigorous campaign against Mr. Trump in the months ahead.
Instead, he argued that those trying to push him out of the race would be denying the wishes of the voters who participated in the primary process — though he noted the fact that he faced only token opposition.
“This was a process open to anyone who wanted to run. Only three people chose to challenge me,” Mr. Biden wrote. “One fared so badly that he left the primaries to run as an independent. Another attacked me for being too old and was soundly defeated. The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party.”
He added: “Do we now say this process doesn’t matter? I decline to do that.”
Mr. Biden devotes much of the letter to a recitation of his record. He cites the creation of 15 million jobs, his defeat of “big Pharma,” investments in combating climate change and the effort to improve the nation’s infrastructure. He contrasts that with what he calls the economic vision of “Trump and the MAGA Republicans.”
But it is not clear whether the letter will blunt the concerns coming from his allies on Capitol Hill. It repeats the arguments that Mr. Biden has tried to make in campaign appearances since the debate and during the interview with ABC News on Friday.
Source Agencies
