Democratic elected officials and Biden campaign staff urged unity this morning, insisting Biden will remain on the ticket, despite increasing calls for him to drop out of the race.
Facing questions from reporters during a “counter-convention” news conference in Milwaukee a few blocks from where the Republican National Convention is being held, Principal Deputy Biden Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks argued that the president has no plans to step aside.
“The vice president is a part of the Biden Harris ticket. Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee,” Fulks said. “We look forward to him accepting the delegates in Chicago and continuing with this race to talk about what’s at stake.”
When pressed about whether Biden is re-evaluating his position in the race, Fulks reiterated that the president has made up his mind to forge ahead, but also noted the election is likely to be close.
“There are no plans being made to replace President Biden on the ballot and President Biden is cognizant this is a margin of error race. Folks are acting like before the debate we somehow said this was going to be a landslide victory for Democrats. We have always said this race is going to be close. We know it is a margin of error race in all the battleground states,” Fulks said.
California Sen. Alex Padilla emphasized that he believes Biden will remain in the race, but also noted that the election is likely to be decided by razor-thin margins.
“As far as the campaign goes, nobody’s predicting a landslide this November in any direction. It was a very close race four years ago, and it’s gonna be a close race this November,” Padilla said.
When asked how Democrats will counter a unified Republican front in support of Trump, Fulks called for Democrats to rally behind Biden, while casting the stakes of the election as a stark contrast between Biden and Trump’s platforms.
“We have to counter it with unity, and the sooner we get past talking about this and talking about what’s at stake and what we’ve heard for the first three nights of this convention and what we’re going to hear tonight from Donald Trump, the better off we’ll be,” Fulks said.