Detroit audience implores Biden to stay in the race

July 13 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden in Detroit affirmed his ability to win the Nov. 5 election as his campaign and former President Donald Trump undertake campaign stops in several battleground states.

On Friday, Biden , 81, delivered a speech accusing former President Donald Trump , 78, of being unfit to return to the White House while trying to connect Trump to the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025.

Members of the Biden-friendly audience shouted "four more years" and "don't you quit" as Biden took the stage.

On Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris was in Philadelphia as the keynote speaker for a presidential town hall by Asian Pacific Islander American Vote, a civic engagement group focused on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

First lady Jill Biden visited Pittsburgh on Saturday to speak at an Italian Sons and Daughters of America dinner in Pittsburgh.

While Biden works to shore up support for his continued candidacy, Trump has a campaign stop scheduled in Butler, Pa., at 5 p.m. EDT Saturday.

Biden is focusing his campaign on battleground states like Michigan that he needs to win in November to secure a second term in office.

"I'm running, and we're going to win," Biden told the Detroit audience.

He said media focus on mistakes he makes but ignores it when Trump makes gaffes and give him a "free pass."

Biden and his campaign officials are trying to tie Trump to Project 2025, which Trump says has no connection to him or his campaign.

"I know nothing about Project 2025," Trump said on Thursday."I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican platform, had nothing to do with it."

Trump accused "radical left Democrats" of engaging in a conspiracy theory to "hook me into whatever policies are stated or said."

Biden's Detroit campaign stop occurred a day after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., met with Biden to discuss concerns many members of the House Democratic Caucus have regarding Biden at the top of the Democratic Party ticket and the potential impact on House races.

Democrats want to hold the Senate and regain the House in November, but many say that's not possible with Biden running for a second term.

Jeffries did not offer Biden his election endorsement and instead "expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together," Jeffries said in a letter to House Democrats Friday.

While Biden works to shore up support for his continued candidacy, Trump has a campaign stop scheduled in Butler, Pa., at 5 p.m. EDT Saturday.

The four-day Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee starts Monday. Trump has yet to name his running mate

"I'd love to do it during the convention, which would be, you know, or just slightly before the convention, like Monday," Trump said Friday on The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.

The Democratic Party National Convention is scheduled to start Aug. 19 at the United Center in Chicago.

Biden will "speak directly to Black America" in an interview by BET journalist Ed Gordon to air from 10-11 p.m. EDT Wednesday, the TV network announced Saturday .

The president is also scheduled to sit down with NBC News' Lester Holt in Austin, Texas, on Monday.