'We‘re in a different place': Biden reportedly considers exiting race as donors quietly flee

03 July 2024

After an underwhelming debate performance last week, top aides for President Joe Biden are now saying he's weighing whether he plans to continue running for reelection.

Talks of replacing the 81 year-old Biden at the top of the ticket heading into next month's Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois have not subsided since his poorly received debate with former President Donald Trump on CNN. The New York Times reported Wednesday that Biden is now communicating that he'll be making a decision on staying in the race after an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Friday, and campaign rallies in the must-win battleground states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"He knows if he has two more events like that, we’re in a different place," an unnamed "key ally" of the president told the Times.

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates pushed back against reports of Biden considering suspending his campaign as "absolutely false."

"If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so," Bates posted to X/Twitter.

Journalist Ron Fournier, however, appeared to defend the veracity of the report, saying that the only person in the position to deny the claim was the president himself. He added that he was certain New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers would pick up the phone if Biden called.

This report comes on the heels of reporting by the Times that major donors that have previously contributed large sums to Biden's reelection effort are now distancing themselves from him after last week's debate. At a recent gathering of roughly 50 donors in Aspen, Colorado, organizers asked attendees to raise their hands if they thought Biden should step down after the debate. Almost every hand went up, according to the Times' Shane Goldmacher, Kate Kelly, Theodore Schleifer and Kenneth P. Vogel.

“I don’t think the wall is very strong,” donor Maggie Kulyk, who owns a wealth management firm, said. “If a few voices came out, it could all come apart. And in my mind, I think that’s what needs to happen.”

Billionaire Seth Klarman, who is CEO of the hedge fund Baupost Group, also communicated his belief that the Democratic Party should entertain options outside of Biden in the wake of the debate. This is despite Klarman giving more than $3.6 million to Biden and affiliated PACs in the 2024 cycle alone.

A consensus may be forming to back Vice President Kamala Harris in the event Biden chooses to step aside, according to the paper. As his running mate, Harris would be able to have immediate access to Biden's sizable war chest to immediately pick up where he left off. The campaign raised $127 million in June alone, with $38 million of that haul coming in the days following the debate. In the second quarter of this year, the Biden-Harris campaign brought in a whopping $264 million.

Click here to read the Times' report on Biden considering exiting the race, and click here to read the publication's report on Biden donors distancing themselves from his campaign.

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