President Joe Biden will return to Michigan on Friday as he attempts to bounce back from the first 2024 debate with Republican Donald Trump, his campaign said in a statement Sunday night.
The Biden campaign announced that the Democratic incumbent will visit Detroit.
This will be Biden's fourth visit to Michigan this year, coming 116 days before the presidential election on Nov. 5. Four years ago, Biden defeated then-President Trump in Michigan by 154,000 votes, or 3 percentage points (51% to 48%).
But Biden's campaign has faced turmoil since the June 27 debate, during which he gave several incoherent and confusing answers, including saying, “We finally defeated Medicare.”
Biden's candidacy, 81, has prompted some commentators and five Democratic members of the House of Representatives to call on him to step aside and for Democrats to nominate someone else to challenge Trump this fall. Biden has rejected their urging and insists he will win the election.
“I'm not going to waste 3.5 years of hard work on a 90 minute debate,” Biden tweeted on Friday. “I will keep campaigning and I will beat Donald Trump.”
And on Saturday, he posted, “I beat Trump in 2020. I will win again in 2024.”
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Biden is scheduled to visit Wisconsin on Friday, Pennsylvania on Sunday and return to Michigan this Friday — three states that combined would give Biden 44 electoral votes in 2024 after winning in 2020.
Biden was interviewed by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos in Wisconsin on Friday.
“I've become convinced of two things: I'm the best person to defeat Trump, and I know how to get things done,” Biden said of Trump in the interview.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and California Governor Gavin Newsom, two potential future Democratic presidential candidates, have continued to voice their support for Biden, with Newsom campaigning on Biden's behalf in Michigan on Thursday.
“Joe Biden is our president,” Newsom said during a visit in South Haven. “He said he'd be all in. I said I'd double down and I'd be all in. And not only that, I'm here with you all to prove it.”
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Trump's last visit to Michigan was on June 15, when he spoke at a church in Detroit and a conference of conservative activists. He attacked Biden in a post on the social media platform Truth Social Friday.
“Villain Joe Biden should ignore the many criticisms and vigorously pursue a strong, far-reaching campaign,” Trump wrote.
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