Biden to Hill Dems: ‘I am firmly committed to staying in this race’

President Joe Biden is attempting to head off more intra-party calls for him to drop out of the race, sending a letter to Hill Democrats Monday morning that emphatically stated he would continue on as the party’s planned nominee.

“I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,” he said in the letter to lawmakers.

Not even 24 hours before, four senior Democrats said on a private call with Democratic leadership that Biden should step aside. With Congress returning from the July Fourth recess Monday, Biden and his campaign have scrambled to tamp down lawmakers’ concerns about his viability as a candidate after his widely-panned debate performance.

Many Democratic lawmakers have made no secret that they have questions about whether he would be able to beat Trump in November and serve another four years in office. A handful of Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside, and those numbers are expected to grow in the coming days.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.