Biden Resolute in 2024 Bid, Aims to Beat Trump: President Joe Biden has reaffirmed his commitment to remain in the 2024 presidential race, despite speculation and calls for him to step aside. In a letter to congressional Democrats, Biden emphasized his determination to beat Donald Trump and highlighted that the decision on the Democratic nominee should be left to the voters.
JosepH R. BIDEN, JR.
July 8, 2024,
Fellow Democrats,
Now that you have returned from July 4th recess, 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 beat Donald Trump.
1 have had extensive conversations with the leadership of the party, elected officials, rank and
file members, and most importantly, Democratic voters over these past 10 days or so. I have
heard the concerns that people have ~their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake
in this election. I am not blind to them. Believe me, I know better than anyone the responsibility
and the burden the nominee of our party carries. I carried it in 2020 when the fate of our nation
was at stake. I also know that these concerns come from a place of real respect in my lifetime of
public service and my record as President, and I have been moved by expressions of affection
for me from so many who have known me well and supported me over the course of my public life:
life. I'm grateful for the rock-solid, steadfast support from so many elected Democrats in
Congress and all across the country and taken great strength from the resolve and determination
I've seen from so many voters and grassroots supporters even in the hardest of weeks.
Tcan respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn't be running again if I did
not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024,
We have a Democratic nomination process and the voters have spoken clearly and decisively. I
received over 14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominating process. | have
nearly 3,000 delegates, making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin.
This was a process open to anyone who wanted to run. Only three people chose to challenge me.
One fared so badly that he left the primaries to run as an independent. Another attacked me for
being too old and was soundly defeated. The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They
have chosen me to be the nominee of the party.
Do we now just say this process doesn't matter? That the voters don't have a say?
I declined to do that. I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust of the voters of the Democratic
Parties have placed me in to run this year. It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the
Pundits, not big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well
intended. The voters — and the voters alone ~ decide the nominee of the Democratic Party.
How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party? I cannot do that.
Twill not do that,
I have no doubt that I ~ and we ~ can and will beat Donald Trump. We have an historic record
of success to run on. From creating over 15 million jobs (including 200,000 just last month),
reaching historic lows on unemployment, revitalizing American manufacturing with 800,000
jobs, to protecting and expanding affordable health care, to rebuilding America’s roads, bridges,
highways, ports, airports, and water systems to beat Big Pharma and lower the cost of
prescription drugs, including $35 a month insulin for seniors, to provide student debt relief
for nearly 5 million Americans for a historic investment in combatting climate change.
More importantly, we have an economic vision to run on that soundly beats Trump and the
MAGA Republicans. They are siding with the wealthy and the big corporations and we are siding
with the working people of America. It wasn't an isolated moment for Trump to stand at Mar-A-
Lago and tell the oil industry they should give him $1 billion and he will do whatever they want.
“That's whose side Trump and the MAGA Republicans are on. Trump and the MAGA
Republicans want another $5 trillion in tax cuts for rich people so they can cut Social Security
and Medicare. We will never let that happen. It's trickle-down economics on steroids. We know
the way to build the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down. We
are finally going to make the rich and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes in this
country. The MAGA party is also still determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which could
throw 45 million Americans off their coverage. We will never let that happen either. Trump got
rich denying rental housing to black people. We plan to build 2 million new housing units
in America. They want to let Big Pharma charge as much as they want again. What do you think?
America's seniors will think when they know Trump and the MAGA Republicans want to take
away from their $35 insulin — as well as the $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription costs we
Democrats just got them? Or what do you think American families are going to think when they
find out Trump and the MAGA Republicans want to hit them with a new $2,500 national sales
tax on all the imported products they buy.
We are the ones lowering costs for families ~ from health care to prescription drugs to student
debt to housing. We are the ones protecting Social Security and Medicare. Everything they're
The proposal raises costs for most Americans — except their tax cuts, which will go to the rich.
We are protecting the freedoms of Americans. Trump and the MAGA Republicans are taking
them away. They have already for the first time in history taken away a fundamental freedom
from the American people by overturning Roe v. Wade. They have decided politicians should
make the most personal of decisions that should be made by women and their doctors and those
closest to them. They have already said that they won't stop there ~ and are going after everything.
from contraception to IVF to the right to marry someone you love. They have made it clear they
will ban abortion nationwide. We will let none of that happen. I have made it clear that if
Kamala and Iare reelected, and the nation elects a Democratic House and Senate, we will make
Roe v. Wade the law of the land again. We are the ones who will bring the real Supreme Court
Reform: Donald Trump and his majority want more of the same from the Court and the chance
to add to the right-wing majority they built by subverting the norms and principles of the:
nomination and confirmation process.
We are standing up for American democracy. Since January 6th, Trump has proven that he
is unfit to ever hold the office of President. We can never allow him anywhere near that office
again. And we never will.
My fellow Democrats — we have the record, the vision, and the fundamental commitment to
America’s freedoms and our democracy to win.
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it's time for
it to end. We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump. We have 42 days until the
Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election. Any weakening of resolve or lack of
clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It's time to come together, move
forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.
Sincerely,
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
President of the United States of America
