Biden back on campaign trail as pressure mounts

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Joe Biden headed back out on the campaign trail yesterday, desperate to salvage his re-election bid as senior Democrats meet to discuss growing calls that he quit the White House race.

The 81-year-old Democrat kicked off a grueling week with two campaign rallies in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, before hosting the NATO leaders' summit in Washington.

He will do so under an increasingly unforgiving spotlight, as pressure mounts for him to drop out after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump last month ignited panic over his age and fitness to serve another four years.

Biden has remained defiant, unequivocally declaring, at a rally, to reporters and on social media, that he is fit to serve, the only one who can defeat Trump, and staying in the race.

"I beat Trump in 2020. I'm going to beat him again in 2024," his campaign social media account posted on July 6.

So far, five Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to drop out, with the drumbeat of dissent slowly rising.

The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has scheduled a virtual meeting of senior Democrat representatives to discuss the best way forward, and Democrat Senator Mark Warner is reportedly working to convene a similar forum in the upper chamber.

For now, Democrat heavyweights are largely keeping a lid on any simmering discontent with their leader, at least in public.

But with election day just four months away, any move to replace Biden as the nominee would need to be made sooner rather than later, and the party will be scrutinized for any signs of more open rebellion.