President Joe Biden reiterated his firm commitment to his reelection bid in a Monday letter to congressional Democrats, telling them it's "time to come together" and "move forward as a unified party."
"I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump," Biden told the Democratic lawmakers. "I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024."
"The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it's time for it to end," the octogenarian president said. "It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump."
The letter comes as a growing number of Democrats have demanded Biden step down as the party’s nominee since his dismal debate performance against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on June 27.
Biden, however, insisted he is the "presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin," noting that he "feel[s] a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year."
Several prominent Democratic officials said in a private meeting on Sunday that Biden should withdraw from the race, according to individuals familiar with the conversation, just days after five House Democrats publicly called on Biden to step aside.
"Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump," Rep. Angie Craig (D., Minn.) said in a statement on Saturday.