Joe Biden’s family urges him to stay in race during Camp David visit as he tries to handle Democratic anxiety

Joe Biden’s family has reportedly urged him to stay in the race and not drop out after this week’s debate performance against Donald Trump.

Huddling with his wife, children and grandchildren, the president discussed how to handle Democratic anxiety, The New York Times reported.

The report stated that Biden’s family and relatives very well realised how disastrous his presidential debate performance was, yet, they believe he is still fit to serve another four years. Biden’s staff has been discussing how to proceed, whether they should arrange a news conference or let him get interviewed so he can defend himself, but no decision has been made yet.

A source familiar with the situation told the outlet that Hunter Biden is one of the strongest voices imploring the president to stay in the race. At least one of Biden’s grandchildren has said they would like to get more involved with the campaign by talking to influencers on social media.

Joe Biden’s staff under fire
Biden’s performance has alarmed the Democratic Party a few months before the general election. John Morgan, a top Democratic donor who knows Biden’s brother, Frank, closely, recently blamed the president’s advisers who handled the debate preparations.

“Biden has for too long been fooled by the value of Anita Dunn and her husband. They need to go… TODAY,” he wrote on X. “The grifting is gross. It was political malpractice.”

In an interview later, Morgan said, “It would be like if you took a prizefighter who was going to have a title fight and put him in a sauna for 15 hours then said, ‘Go fight’. I believe that the debate is solely on Ron Klain, Bob Bauer and Anita Dunn.”

Biden’s family members are not pleased with his staff either, including White House senior adviser Dunn, her husband Bob Bauer, and Ron Klain the former White House chief of staff who is known to have run the preparations. But an insider said the president himself is not upset, and still trusted his staff. Another insider said Jill Biden did not criticise them either.

A White House official also dismissed claims other family members of the president were upset. Some Democrats, too, believe it is not fair to blame Biden’s staff for his own failures.

Klain, meanwhile, said there was no doubt that Biden would stay in the race. “He is the choice of the Democratic voters,” Klain said. “We are seeing record levels of support from grass-roots donors. We had a bad debate night. But you win campaigns by fighting — not quitting — in the face of adversity.”

Klain recalled how a primary debate in 2019 turned out to be bad, but the president still kept going. “It’s a tough, close campaign and he’s the person who can win it,” Klain said. “Big-money donors don’t get to dictate the nominee of the Democratic Party.”

The David Camp weekend plan was already planned by Biden’s family before the debate. Their aim, in part, was to take part in a photo shoot with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. This was the first time the whole family gathered together after Hunter’s conviction.