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President Joe Biden on Friday vowed to continue his reelection bid and dismissed worries about his age from some fellow Democrats who he said are trying to push me out.

Theres been a lot of speculation, Biden told supporters in Wisconsin, referring to a poor debate showing that sparked calls for him to end his bid for a second term. Heres my answer: I am running and I am going to win again.

Bidens typical campaign rally speech got a facelift, with the usual laundry list of accomplishments repackaged to take on his Democratic critics while also acknowledging his age.

I know I look 40, the 81-year-old president said with a grin. I keep seeing all those stories about being too old. Let me say something. I wasnt too old to create over 15 million new jobs. To make sure 21 million Americans are insured under the Affordable Care Act. To beat Big Pharma, the first one to ever do that [by] lowering the cost of insulin to $35.

Was I too old to relieve student [loan] debt for 5 million Americans? he said to cheers. Too old to put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court of the United States of America? Was I too old to sign the most significant gun safety law in 30 years?

The president, speaking in Madison, was much sharper and more energetic than he appeared last week in his debate with former President Donald Trump. Biden repeatedly drew loud cheers Friday as he mocked and criticized Trump, the expected Republican nominee, at one point labeling the twice-impeached and once-convicted former president a one-man crime wave, and adding, I can hardly wait to again defeat Trump in November.

Still, Biden did appear to mix up the 2020 election cycle and the current one, and he slurred some words and stopped thoughts mid-sentence, things Republicans and some Democrats have called signs of mental decline. As he was still on stage, The Washington Post alerted an article citing anonymous sources saying that Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, was looking to assemble a group of Democratic senators to ask Biden to step aside.

Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, told reporters on Air Force One on Friday that Biden is staying in the race. Hes not going anywhere. She jousted with reporters who pressed about Bidens age and mental condition with pointed questions. Jean-Pierre said the 81-year-old president is planning to strike a balance with his schedule by doing less after 8 p.m., while also saying he works around the clock. She said Biden is thinking clearly and plans to do the job in a full-throttle mode.

The president was in Wisconsin for the rally and a sit-down interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, a former communications director to President Bill Clinton. Some pundits said the unscripted sit-down Biden spoke off a teleprompter at the campaign rally would go a long way to deciding whether he can put down calls from within his party to drop out.

Three House Democrats, so far, have called on Biden to exit the race: Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. Others have publicly expressed concerns about his debate performance and signs of aging.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Badger State, which Biden won in 2020, edging Trump 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent.

A Marquette University Law School survey released June 26, the day before the debate showing, put the candidates tied among registered voters. But it gave Trump a narrow lead among likely voters, 51 percent to 49 percent.

A national poll from Siena College and The New York Times conducted after the debate and released Wednesday gave Trump a 3 percentage bump and a 49 percent to 43 percent lead.

Biden on Friday vowed to win Wisconsin and the general election.

Ill beat Donald Trump. Ill beat him again in 2020, Biden said, then seemed to catch the gaffe immediately. By the way, were going to do it again in 2024.

Biden began his remarks by poking fun at a misstatement of American history Trump once uttered as president.

If you wonder whether Trump has it all together, did you ever hear how he explained the Fourth of July when he was president? He said in his Fourth of July speech five years ago, he said George Washingtons army won the Revolution by taking control of the airports from the British.

They talk about me misspeaking. Its true he is a stable genius, this man, Biden added, referring to how Trump once described himself amid Democrats questioning his mental state.

Bidens selection of Wisconsin came as part of his ongoing efforts to rebuild the 2020 electoral map that put him in the White House, including the so-called blue wall battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. He is slated to hold a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvanias largest city and media market, on Sunday.

We still believe that Biden needs to carry all of the Blue Wall trio, Kyle Kondik, an analyst with the University of Virginias Center for Politics, wrote this week, and hes really no better than 50-50 in each of them at the moment.

That is among the reasons why many Democratic lawmakers and strategists have spent the week urging Biden and his top aides to get him in front of voters pronto.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told CNN on Wednesday that Biden talking to Democratic lawmakers and governors as he did on Wednesday would do little to salvage his candidacy. Thats because he is not, to Welch, in a tell me situation, hes in a show me situation.

Notably, Biden has kept Vice President Kamala Harris, who would be among those expected to seek the nomination should he step aside, close this week. She was with him Wednesday at a meeting with Democratic governors and again to view Independence Day fireworks at the White House.

And today, as we celebrate freedom, as we celebrate the promise of America, we also celebrate and express our gratitude to our service members, to our veterans, to our military families, she said to applause at the July Fourth event Thursday.

And we give thanks to our commander in chief, Harris said, appearing to almost refer to him as the vice president, a job he held for eight years, the president of the United States, the extraordinary president of the United States, Joe Biden.

Hours earlier, Biden delivered remarks to military personnel and at several points spoke in half-sentences, at one point seeming unable to finish an anecdote about the Declaration of Independence. But on Friday, he repeatedly dismissed calls to drop out.

Theyre trying to push me out of the race, he said. Well, let me say it as clearly as I can: Im staying in the race.

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Biden to Democrats calling for him to quit: Im staying in the race - Roll Call

MADISON, Wis. Dean Leeper was never thrilled about voting this year for President Biden. The incumbent is too old, in Leepers eyes, and even before his disastrous debate, some relatives who usually back Democrats were eyeing other candidates.

Now, Leeper is hoping that he and millions of Americans who want a new mainstream option will suddenly get their wish. He would be fine with Vice President Harris. Really, any other Democrat would work. Im not asking for much, the 32-year-old said.

Just, like, knows how to address a camera, Leeper continued, sounding demoralized, at a park where families celebrated the July Fourth holiday with live music and a bounce house. Can shake hands.

As Biden prepared to visit Madison on Friday, Democrats in this blue stronghold were more apprehensive than ever about an election they are desperate to win. Many said they were worried that Biden wasnt up to the task of defeating former president Donald Trump; others feared that replacing Biden would do more harm than good. They had grimaced through the debate last week, in which Biden delivered a halting performance and appeared repeatedly to lose his train of thought. They were concerned that a second Trump term would go further than the first, and anxious about a party caught between risky options.

I trust Biden to make the right decision, said Sandy Boes, 73. I dont know what it is, but I really believe that if he if the people around him think he cant do it that he will put the good of the country first. Im afraid, after the debate, that a lot of people just will decide not to vote, and if people dont vote, then I think we get Trump, and Im terrified.

Biden, 81, has repeatedly said he intends to stay in the race, even in the face of growing pressure in his party to step aside and conversations about replacement candidates. A week into widespread hand-wringing over Bidens viability as a candidate, Democratic voters here still had plenty of affection and respect for the man who beat Trump in 2020.

Many of Bidens doubters were open to the idea that the president could still reassure them, starting with an event in Madison that some were hoping to attend. Even for those who cast protest votes against Biden in the primary, it wasnt clear that replacing him was the right move so late in the race.

But the crisis hanging over Democrats was frustrating to voters who thought that Biden should have stepped aside earlier and faced little pressure to do so from party leaders. No prominent Democrats moved to challenge Biden as he said he was committed to running again, though polls leading up to the primaries showed that most Democratic voters wanted someone else and that some felt uneasy about his age and acuity.

There was support from constituents for a nominee besides Biden, said Charlotte Zangs, 26, but there wasnt really support within the party. What she saw was cheerleading that backfired: They were like, He can do it! Hes got it!

Zangs backed long-shot candidate Dean Phillips in a Democratic primary that Biden dominated, while her partner, 26-year-old Ben Nesslar, cast their ballot for uninstructed a protest vote delivered with eagerness for someone below the retirement age.

Now, the couple feels vindicated. But Zangs said at this point, shes not clamoring for Biden to bow out. Its such a complicated situation, she said.

Nesslar felt differently. To Nesslar, the debate had demonstrated that Biden was unfit to serve, and Nesslar was ready to embrace Harris. She can talk through a sentence, Nesslar said.

Madison, the capital of swing-state Wisconsin, and surrounding Dane County were among the blue strongholds critical to Bidens victory in 2020. In states like Wisconsin where races are won by the thinnest of margins, Biden and Trump are not only fighting over swing voters, but also working to energize their respective bases. Polls have consistently found that Biden is struggling with flagging support among groups that typically skew heavily Democrat, such as young people and voters of color.

Recent surveys have shown close races in swing states, often with Trump having an edge. After the debate, a New York Times-Siena poll found that Trumps national lead over Biden had widened to six percentage points among likely voters.

On the eve of Bidens planned visit here part of a crucial stretch as he looks to persuade Democrats not to abandon him many liberal voters were struggling with the same question: How to move forward?

Cynthia Carlson, 54, said she was 50-50 on the question of whether Biden should keep leading the ticket. New candidates, she said, would mean skeletons in the closet that the Republicans would bring out but if Biden stays in and he doesnt up his game? Then thats an issue, too.

Biden should have done more to set up whoever the next person is going to be, said Chris Schickel, 61.

His partner, 43-year-old Shanna Wolf, said a new ticket would be exciting and called Harris super smart. But others worried that Harris has her own vulnerabilities in a general election.

Im worried about sexism. Im worried about racism. I feel like Biden weirdly is a more viable candidate because hes a White man, even if hes super old, said Ben Kasten, 39, who said he feels like he also doesnt have a strong sense of what Harris stands for despite following political news closely.

Kasten said he considers Biden a fantastic candidate when it comes to his policies and principles. But watching the debate last week, he felt so sick he turned it off. He estimates he made it about 10 minutes as a raspy-voiced Biden struggled through.

A history teacher in the Madison area, Kasten says the stakes of the election are enormous. He and his wife have even discussed wanting to leave the country if Trump is reelected.

The damage that he has done, the disrespect that he has shown to institutions that have shaped American life for a long time it makes it really hard to explain to kids why thats okay, he said.

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'I'm terrified': As Biden visits Wisconsin, Democrats worry and wonder if they should replace him - The Washington Post - The Washington Post

Late last year, Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a first-term Democrat from a rural district in Washington State, began receiving a deluge of alarmed texts from her friends. Before she was elected to Congress, in 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez ran an auto-repair shop with her husband; her professional and personal acquaintances still largely consist of people who work in the trades construction, carpentry, woodworking. Now a number of those friends were venting about, of all things, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The C.P.S.C. had recently proposed a rule effectively requiring that all new table saws sold in the United States come equipped with a high-tech safety feature that stops and retracts the saws spinning blade within milliseconds of its making contact with flesh. The finger-saving technology has been likened to airbags in cars a straightforward but ingenious safety solution but many of Gluesenkamp Perezs friends didnt see it that way. They were worried that a government mandate would increase the cost of a new table saw by hundreds of dollars, while also giving SawStop, the company that developed the technology, an effective monopoly.

What may seem like a minor regulatory hiccup is to Gluesenkamp Perez emblematic of the disconnect between government and the governed that she has dedicated her short time in office to addressing. Too often, she believes, policymakers are not only disrespectful to people who work with their hands, but also ignorant of the reality of their day-to-day lives. If the commission had had somebody who has worked in construction in the body, they would know that if you raise the cost of a table saw by $400, people are just going to put a circ saw on a sheet of plywood and more people are going to lose their fingers, she says. In April, she introduced legislation that would prohibit the commission from implementing the rule until five years after SawStops patent expires. (SawStops chief executive, Matt Howard, said that the company has promised not to enforce its patent once the rule is implemented.)

Sworn into Congress at age 34, with no previous experience as an elected official, Gluesenkamp Perez operates very differently from most of her fellow politicians. Interviewing prospective staff members, shes as likely to ask them about what kind of car they own as about what kind of political experience they have. She hired her legislative director, in part, because the woman drove a Toyota Camry with 200,000 miles on it. That says a lot, Gluesenkamp Perez explains. But what really sets her apart is the way she thinks about the federal government itself which she believes is woefully out of touch with the needs of working-class Americans.

Earlier this year, at a private dinner for Democratic representatives with Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Gluesenkamp Perez asked one question: How many of your employees at the F.T.C. dont have a college degree? Khan couldnt produce a number. Gluesenkamp Perez suspected that was because the answer is zero. (Through a spokesman, the F.T.C. said the actual figure is 8 percent.) To Gluesenkamp Perez, this served as further evidence of an overly academic, wonky approach to governance that produces bad, alienating policy. I feel like in D.C., people have this idea that equity is translating the lawyerly gobbledygook on government websites into Spanish, she says. That is not equity. Equity is being able to navigate the website with an eighth-grade reading level in English and without having to hire a compliance firm.

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The Blue-Collar Democrat Who Wants to Fix the Party's Other Big Problem - The New York Times

1. Biden wins crucial support of Democratic governors to continue campaign: Were going to have his back as it happened  The Guardian US
2. Biden to Hold Crisis Meeting With Democratic Governors at the White House  The New York Times
3. Second House Democrat calls on Biden to withdraw from race  CNN

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Biden wins crucial support of Democratic governors to continue campaign: Were going to have his back as it happened - The Guardian US

Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas is the first congressional Democrat to publicly call for President Biden to withdraw from his reelection bid after last week's poor debate performance. Sergio Flores/Getty Images hide caption

Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett is the first congressional Democrat to call for President Biden to withdraw from the presidential election. Earlier on Wednesday, Doggett told NPRs Leila Fadel that Biden has not convinced the American people that hes fit for reelection.

Doggett fears that with Biden as the candidate, Democrats will not be able to stop Donald Trump from becoming the new authoritarian strongman in our country.

Despite Bidens transformational accomplishments, Doggett sees a lack of enthusiasm and excitement that could cause Democrats to lose not only the presidency, but also the House and Senate in the upcoming elections.

While party leadership so far has voiced continued support for Biden, he says his dissent represents widespread concern.

The following is an edited and condensed version of the conversation with Rep. Lloyd Doggett.

Leila Fadel: So why do you want Biden to withdraw?

Rep. Lloyd Doggett: You have a criminal and his gang who are about to take over our government. We've got to do everything we possibly can to prevent Donald Trump from becoming the new authoritarian strongman in our country. [...] President Biden has some significant accomplishments. I've supported him throughout, but he has not convinced the American people.

Fadel: Are you saying that you don't think he can beat Donald Trump?

Doggett: I think that he is far behind and that we have to put our best possibility forward instead of putting forward the same person that so many people, some called the double haters, have rejected. We need to add some enthusiasm and excitement in our campaign. Yesterday, while I was the only person to call for him to step aside, in Washington state, in Maine, I had colleagues who said Donald Trump will win. There's much of that thinking out there that's difficult to overcome. And there is great consternation across the country, I believe, from the people I've heard from, that we could lose not only the presidency, but the House and the Senate.

Fadel: I want to get a sense of how representative your opinion is. I mean, the party leadership is rallying around the President right now? Are you in the minority here?

Doggett: I think there are people that don't agree with me. From the conversations that I had on the floor of Congress the morning after the election and some of the conversations that I've had since then, I think the concerns I'm voicing are widespread.

I'm a member who's been in Congress for a while, as you noted, not starting my career. I'm not a vulnerable member in this election, so I'm able to step forward and speak out about what I think is so critical for our country in ways that perhaps some other people have not, but I certainly have not gotten any discouragement from within the leadership of the party.

Fadel: What do you say to Democrats who might say, now isn't the time to withdraw support from Biden because it could help Donald Trump, his opponent, contrary to what you're saying?

Doggett: You know, that's the very concern that caused me to not speak out about this earlier. I wish this had been resolved earlier. President Biden said he would be a transitional figure. He's had some transformational accomplishments, but he's worked now for a year, and he's not been able to close the gap, and he made that gap wider after this debate, raising real questions in the minds of so many Americans as to his capability to govern the country now and over the next four years. I just say don't take that chance.

I don't want to do anything to diminish his chances of success. If he is our nominee, he certainly will have my backing. It just will be a heavy lift for me and for many candidates who I believe across the country will begin to distance themselves from the president because they fear being dragged down by the problems that he's having.

The audio version of this interview was edited by Ally Schweitzer. The digital version was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi and Dana Farrington.

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Democratic congressman says Biden needs to exit the race - NPR