‘I’m running,’ Biden says, as pressure mounts on campaign

US President Joe Biden sought to reassure senior Democrats and his campaign staff on Wednesday as reports emerged that he was weighing his future after last week’s disastrous debate with Donald Trump.

Mr Biden held a closed-door lunch with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House amid speculation about whether she will replace him as the party’s nominee in November’s election.

The pair later took part in a call with the wider Democratic campaign, where Mr Biden made it clear he would remain in the race and Ms Harris reiterated her support. “I am the Democratic nominee. Nobody is pushing me out. I am not leaving,” he said on the call, a source told BBC News.

That same phrase was repeated in a fundraising email sent out hours later by the Biden-Harris campaign. “Let me be as clear and simple as I can: I am running,” Biden said in the email, adding that he was “in this race to the end.”

Questions swirled about whether the 81-year-old would continue his campaign after the debate with Trump, marked by gaps in speech, a weak voice and some confusing answers, raising concerns among Democrats about his fitness to hold office and his ability to win the election.

The pressure on Mr Biden to drop out has only increased in recent days as multiple polls show his Republican rival widening his lead. A New York Times poll conducted after the debate, released on Wednesday, showed Mr Trump holding his largest lead ever, by six points.

And a separate poll released by the BBC’s US partner CBS News showed Trump leading Biden by three points in key battleground states. That poll also showed the former president leading nationally.

The damaging probe has been exacerbated by a number of Democratic donors and lawmakers publicly calling on the president to step aside. Ramesh Kapur, an Indian-American industrialist living in Massachusetts, has been organizing fundraisers for Democrats since 1988.

“I think it’s time for him to pass the torch,” Mr Kapur told the BBC. “I know he has the motivation, but you can’t fight Mother Nature.”

And two Democrats in Congress have also called for a change in the party’s top nominee. The latest, Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona, told the New York Times that it was time for Democrats to “look elsewhere.”

Despite this, the White House and Biden’s campaign have vehemently denied reports that he is considering his future and have said he is committed to defeating Trump for a second time on November 5.

The New York Times and CNN reported on Wednesday that Mr. Biden told an unnamed ally that he was evaluating whether to continue in the race.

Both reports said the president has told allies that he knows his re-election effort is in jeopardy and that his upcoming appearances — including an interview with ABC News and a Friday rally in Wisconsin — are of immense importance to his campaign.

The spokesperson dismissed the reports as “completely false,” shortly before White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a barrage of questions about Mr Biden’s commitment to the race.

She said reports he might drop out were untrue: “We asked the president. [and] The president responded directly… and said ‘no, that’s completely wrong.’ That came directly from him.”

Mr Biden met late Wednesday with 20 Democratic governors from across the country, including Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. Both are considered potential replacements if Mr Biden resigns.

“The president has always supported us, and we will support him,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore told reporters after the meeting.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said two dozen governors who had just met with the president had pledged their support, and Mr Biden declared he was “in it to win”.

But Ms Harris is still seen as the most likely replacement. The 59-year-old has been hampered by low approval ratings, but her support has surged among Democrats since the Biden-Trump debate.

The vice president gave an interview on CNN immediately after the debate and appeared calm as he expressed his full support for the president.

“She’s not going to change anything,” a source close to Ms Harris told BBC News, adding that she would continue to travel to support the campaign.

“She has always been focused on being a good partner to the president,” said Jamal Simmons, Ms. Harris’s former communications director.

“The people who ultimately make the decision about who gets nominated are largely people who are committed to him. Her best role is to be his partner.”

Members of the Democratic National Committee are tasked with voting to formally nominate President Biden as the party’s nominee at the convention in August, putting him on the national ballot.

One member, who spoke to other delegates and asked not to be named to speak candidly about sensitive discussions, told the BBC that the nomination would go to Vice President Harris if Mr Biden decided not to run.

“If we reopen the conference, it will cause real chaos and hurt us in November,” they said.

Meanwhile, a Washington Post report said Mr Biden and his team acknowledged that he must prove his fitness to hold office in the coming days.

He appeared at the Medal of Honor ceremony on Wednesday and had planned trips to Wisconsin and Philadelphia over the weekend.

Courtney Subramanian, Adam Levy and Brajesh Upadhyay contributed to this report.