Biden has five days to prove himself – top donor

A growing number of elected Democrats are said to be “panicking” after the president’s poor debate performance

US President Joe Biden and his campaign have just a few days to prove the 81-year-old politician’s fitness to run for another term, a major Democratic Party donor has said.

Charles Myers, the chair of Signum Global Advisors, believes Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump has changed the race “fundamentally” and caused “panic” – not only among Democratic Party donors but office holders as well.

House and Senate Democrats in particular fear the president’s weak showing will drag down their campaigns, and prominent figures are expected to publicly call on Biden to step aside in favor of another candidate, Myers told Bloomberg Surveillance on Wednesday.

“I’m hearing the most pressure and much more panic [from elected Democrats] actually than amongst the donors,” he said.

A separate report by Bloomberg suggested that dozens of Democrats in Congress are considering signing an open letter to Biden urging him to suspend his campaign. The report did not name those allegedly considering such a move, but attributed the information to an anonymous “senior party official.”

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The Biden campaign has just a few days to demonstrate the president is up to the job amid mounting concern over his physical and mental condition. “I think we’re going to find out in the next four to five days whether the president is still in this race. I don’t think he’s got three weeks,” Myers stated.

On Wednesday, Biden said he was ready to continue his reelection campaign “to the end,” dismissing any possibility of calling it off.

“Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can, as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running… no one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end, and we’re going to win,” Biden said during a call with his campaign staffers.

The White House has also dismissed rumors of Biden’s potential withdrawal, with spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre saying the US president remains “clear-eyed, and he is staying in the race.”