On Thursday, Axios reported that top Democrats are convinced Biden will soon relent to calls for him to bow out of the 2024 presidential race.
According to several unnamed Democrats, including Biden aides, “the rising pressure of party congressional leaders and close friends will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race, as soon as this weekend,” Axios reported.
The report comes as calls for Biden to drop out have reached a fever pitch. On Wednesday, Representative Adam Schiff publicly urged him to step down, and reporting revealed that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Schumer have done the same in private conversations with the president. Now, those close to Biden are admonishing him that remaining in the race could mar his legacy and deliver a “landslide” victory to Trump and the Republicans in November, Axios reported.
Over the past week, Biden’s intransigence regarding his presidential bid has reportedly softened. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that he was growing “more receptive in the last several days to hearing arguments” against continuing his candidacy, and a senior Democratic adviser told CNN Biden has “gone from saying, ‘Kamala can’t win,’ to ‘Do you think Kamala can win?’”
A friend of Biden told Axios that Biden’s “choice is to be one of history’s heroes, or to be sure of the fact that there’ll never be a Biden presidential library,” adding, “I pray that he does the right thing. He’s headed that way.”