Joe Biden has reportedly admitted to Democratic governors that he needs more sleep – while telling a supporter at the White House Fourth of July celebrations on Thursday night that he isn’t “going anywhere” in the race for re-election.
The US president told the Democratic governors that he had been feeling fatigued, needed to get more sleep and was aiming to reduce overwork, particularly by planning fewer engagements after 8pm, the New York Times reported.
The topic came up at a crucial meeting on Wednesday aimed at shoring up the support of key senior Democratic figures after the US president’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last week.
Governors, including California’s Gavin Newsom and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, who are increasingly tipped as rivals to Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, emerged from the meeting enthusiastically pledging their ongoing support for the president as the presumptive party nominee for this November’s election.
And on Thursday evening at the White House, as Biden mingled and took selfies with guests, someone called out to him: “Keep up the fight.”
Biden responded: “You got me, man. I’m not going anywhere.”
But efforts to persuade voters that he is not being negatively affected by his age – Biden is 81, and would be 86 by the end of a potential second term – after his faltering debate performance will not be helped by his admission that he was feeling the effects of fatigue.
According to the New York Times, which cited two people in Wednesday evening’s meeting, Biden explained that several trips to Europe in the weeks leading up to the debate were factors in his poor showing, although he had a full week of debate preparation before the event.
He then said he had been ignoring his campaign team’s advice and pushing too hard, and added that he would be aiming to plan fewer engagements after 8pm and needed to get more sleep.
Axios had previously reported aides of Biden saying the president was at his most effective between the hours of 10am and 4pm but that at other times, including when travelling and feeling the effects of jet lag, he would more likely to make mistakes while speaking and to become tired.
Not all the governors were said to be convinced about Biden’s candidacy by the Wednesday meeting.
Josh Green, the governor of Hawaii, reportedly asked Biden about his health, to which Biden replied, “It’s just my brain,” in what a campaign chief afterwards emphasised was a joke.
Reuters contributed reporting
