Biden will not be stepping down from race, campaign chair says

Joe Biden’s campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said the president is “absolutely” still in the 2024 presidential race in an interview on MSNBC Friday morning, despite rumors suggesting otherwise.

Has Biden stepped down?

Two people familiar with the situation told NBC News that members of the President’s family had begun discussing his possible exit from the campaign. Discussions involved how he would want to end his reelection bid on his own timing and with maximum strategy. The campaign’s impact on Biden’s health, his family and the country’s stability were prioritized in the conversation, the sources said.

Such rumors, along with Jen O’Malley Dillon’s appearance on “Morning Joe,” follow a chaotic week for the president’s reelection bid after top Democrats pressured Biden to exit the race and he tested positive for COVID-19. Among those calling for Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race was U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, who on Friday became the second House Democrat from Texas and the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to do so.

People are also reading:Eight more Democrats ask Biden to step down. Here’s the full list.

Campaign chair: Biden is ‘more committed than ever’

Jen O’Malley Dillon said despite concerns, Biden is “more committed than ever” to beating former President Donald Trump, who became the official Republican nominee at the party’s convention Thursday night. She added that while the president’s positive test is taking him off the campaign trail at a pivotal moment in the election cycle, he will return to campaigning next week.

“Absolutely the president is in this race. Joe Biden is more committed than ever to beat Donald Trump, and we believe on this campaign we are built for the close election that we are in, and we see the path forward.”

She brushed aside reports that Biden is considering dropping out of the race as “bad” stories about conversations “he is not having.”

O’Malley Dillon said that as Biden recovers from COVID-19 in his Delaware home, his campaign has continued door-knocking. She said that of the 100,000 voters the team has talked to in battleground states this week, 76% are still with the president, 16% were undecided, and a small percentage were “not available to us.”

“We have multiple pathways to victory,” O’Malley Dillon said.

Several independent polls have shown Trump leading Biden nationally and in swing states since the first presidential debate.

— USA TODAY reporter Rachel Barber contributed to this report.