Biden campaign insists president 'absolutely in this race' as calls to replace him grow

July 19 (UPI) -- Biden-Harris campaign Chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said on MSNBC's Morning Joe program Friday that, despite growing calls for President Joe Biden to step aside, he is "absolutely in this race."

"Joe Biden is more committed than ever to beat Donald Trump ," she said. "And we believe on this campaign we are built for the close election that we are in and we see the path forward ."

Her comments came as more Democratic lawmakers called on Biden to step aside and drop out of the campaign.

Late Friday afternoon, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown urged Biden to end his re-election campaign. He became the fourth Democrat in the Senate to make such a call.

According to NBC News , Brown said he has heard from Ohioans on "important issues, such as how to continue to grow jobs in our state, give law enforcement the resources to crack down on fentanyl, protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts, and prevent the ongoing efforts to impose a national abortion ban."

"These are the issues Ohioans care about and it is my job to keep fighting for them," he said.

"I agree with the many Ohioans who have reached out to me," Brown said. "At this critical time, our full attention must return to these important issues. I think the president should end his campaign."

Earlier Friday, Biden's campaign had put out a memo insisting he will stay at the top of the Democratic ticket.

The memo, first reported by NBC News, said in part, "While voters consistently mention President Biden's age when contacted, our target voters -- both re-engagement and true swing voters -- are still planning to vote for him, making it clear the debate has not hurt support among the voters who will decide this election."

Sen. Martin Henrich, D-N.M., issued a Friday morning statement that said Biden should drop out to prevent the threat of Donald Trump becoming president again.

"The return of Donald Trump to the White House poses an existential danger to our democracy. We must defeat him in November, and we need a candidate who can do that," Henrich's statement said.

Democratic Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Marc Veasey, D-Texas, Jesús "Chuy" García, D-Ill., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., put out a joint statement urging Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.

They said they had great personal admiration for Biden and sincere respect for his service to the country, but it's time he "pass the torch" to a new generation of Democratic leaders.

"We must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign," the statement said. "These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened in the aftermath of last month's debate and are now unlikely to change."

Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled on short notice to speak to major Democratic donors Friday afternoon amid the turmoil and uncertainty within the Democratic regarding Biden staying in the race.

In a Thursday statement, Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester called for Biden to drop out after Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont was the first Democrat in the senate to call for Biden to end his campaign.

"I have worked with President Biden when it has made Montana stronger, and I've never been afraid to stand up to him when he is wrong," Tester's statement said. "And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term."

Tester's statement followed reporting that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have both spoke with Biden recently to tell him his campaign could cause Democrats to lose both the House and Senate.

But Dillon said polls in 2022 also showed Republicans would be strong but Democrats ended up taking the Senate and did better than the polls showed in House races.

Dillon said on MSNBC that voters are not moving from Joe Biden to Donald Trump.

"What they are doing is they're saying to us 'Can he do it?' And the president is saying, 'Yes, I can,'" Dillon said.

She said the Biden campaign continues to look at analytics and polling and they're seeing what a lot of people are seeing. But she said they are also looking at what she said is happening on the ground.

Dillon said the campaign had done about a hundred thousand door knocks over the last few days in battleground states, and 76% of those voters the campaign talked to directly are aligned with Joe Biden.

"While this has been such a hard week," Dillon said, "the people, the voters, the volunteers are still doing the work. So there is no doubt we need to move forward. There is no doubt we have to go back to focusing on taking on Donald Trump because there is too much at stake."