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2024 election live updates: Bernie Sanders calls on Dems 'to stop the bickering'

Sanders expressed his support for Biden in a New York Times guest essay.

President Joe Biden is facing a critical point in his reelection bid as Democratic calls for him to exit the 2024 race continue to mount despite his efforts to shut them down.

A poor debate performance against Donald Trump reignited questions about Biden's age and fitness to carry out his campaign and serve another four years. Biden has defiantly insisted he is staying the course, telling lawmakers this week he is not going anywhere.

Biden held his first news conference since the debate Thursday evening -- taking multiple questions about his political future.


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9th Democrat calls for Biden to withdraw from the race

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., became the ninth Democrat to call on Biden to end his reelection bid.

Blumenauer, a senior member of the House Ways and Means and Budget committees, commended the president for his accomplishments, claiming in a statement released Wednesday that Biden "will be recorded in history as the most successful president in the last 50 years."

However, the congressmen added that, in his mind, "We will all be better served if the president steps aside as the Democratic nominee and manages a transition under his terms."

"The next six months will be critical in the implementation of President Biden's landmark accomplishments that will define his legacy for generations to come. He should devote his energy and undivided attention to issues of war and peace, the climate crisis, and rebuilding and renewing America," Blumenauer said, in part.

-ABC News' Ben Siegel


AFL-CIO calls on Democrats to unite behind Biden

The AFL-CIO for the second time in a week put out a statement in support of President Joe Biden after unanimously voting to reaffirm their support for the Biden-Harris ticket, saying that they are the "most pro-union administration in our lifetimes."

The union, which endorsed the Biden-Harris campaign in June 2023, urged Democrats to support Biden saying, "The labor movement is united behind President Biden and Vice President Harris. We urge his party and the American people to join us."

"The message from today’s meeting couldn’t have been clearer: Right now, it’s time to come together around a vision of a country where everyone has a fair shot with a living wage, affordable health care, retirement security, and time to do the things we love like spending time with family and friends and pursuing our interests and passions. These are fundamental to, as the president reiterated to our meeting, building the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down," the AFL-CIO Executive Council said in a statement..

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson


Newsom says he won't challenge Harris, reiterates support for Biden

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was again asked about the future of President Biden's campaign and whether he'd challenge Vice President Kamala Harris if she took the ticket during a news conference on the ongoing wildfires Wednesday.

Newsom stood by comments he made in 2023 when he said he would not run against Harris.

The governor reiterated that he is still backing Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee.

"I think I’ve had 100 media outlets asking the same question, and I think that I’ve amply answered my support for the president and the support I saw on the ground was demonstrable," he said.

Newsom said he didn't read the full comments that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave on MSNBC where she said, "It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run."

He also said he had not read George Clooney's New York Times op-ed that called on Biden to bow out.


Morale 'very low' at White House as staff frustrated by Clooney op-ed: Source

Morale "is very low in the building," a person who works regularly with senior level White House staff told ABC News Wednesday.

Some in President Joe Biden's inner circle, including senior adviser Anita Dunn and chief of staff Jeff Zients, are said to be very frustrated and upset by George Clooney’s op-ed in the New York Times in which he calls on Biden to step aside, the source said.

The donor class is also deeply divided, a Democratic adviser told ABC News.

Although small donations continue to pour in and the very largest donors are doubling down, the huge swath of donors in the middle are holding back, according to the adviser. That group of donors, which gives anywhere from five to eight figures, are on pause, which is very damaging since they’re a major part of the donor ecosystem, the adviser said.

This adviser adds that the hand-wringing in the meantime has been very harmful to the campaign.

Another Democratic fundraiser says while a strong performance at the solo press conference Thursday could help the situation, many donors believe the crisis around Biden just won’t go away.

The doubts raised by members of Congress, the comments from Nancy Pelosi, and the op-ed from George Clooney are all fueling a flurry of discussions among donors about what to do if Biden drops out.

-ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang