Crowd chants as invigorated President Joe Biden rallies in Detroit: 'Don't you quit'

An impassioned, invigorated President Joe Biden on Friday tried to flip the script on his reelection campaign as he faces pressure from some critical Democrats to abandon his nomination, telling a rollicking crowd of supporters at a Detroit rally that the focus should be on the threat former President Donald Trump poses to the country.

Greeted with huge applause by a crowd of thousands at Renaissance High School who chanted "Don't You Quit" and "We've Got Your Back" and interrupted him several times to show their support, Biden appeared not only ready to take the fight to Trump, who is running against Biden for reelection, but to feed off the crowd's ceaseless energy, his voice remaining strong and his demeanor feisty during a 35-minute address.

"I am running and we're going to win. I'm not going to change anything," Biden said, rejecting any suggestion that he might leave the race with questions as to whether, at age 81, he is fit for another term and can beat Trump in November. "I'm the only Democrat or Republican that has ever beaten Donald Trump and I'm going to beat him again."

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"I know him. Donald Trump is a loser," Biden thundered as he began a speech in which he touted his support for unions in the pro-labor crowd and said he would protect Social Security, lower the cost of prescription drugs, expand health care, institute an assault weapons ban and protect abortion rights. "Above all else, we’re going to stand up for our constitution and save our democracy," he said.

On a couple of occasions, Biden's speech faltered briefly as he seemed to realize he might misspeak and he mispronounced U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar's name. He also appeared to mix up a date at one point — but at no point did he appear to ramble or be lost as to the contentions he was trying to make.

As for Trump, Biden said he was an enemy to democracy and a friend to authoritarians and hammered away at a vision concocted by the conservative Heritage Foundation for a conservative, top-to-bottom revamping of the federal government which his campaign has claimed is "a project built for Trump," even though the former president has tried to distance himself from the plan. The 900-plus-page "Project 2025" framework includes calls for upending the present civil service system, giving presidents more power to appoint and fire workers, eliminating the Education Department, limiting abortion pills and pursuing other conservative policies.

He underscored how those changes, if enacted, could hurt Black families in Detroit by reducing access to health care and government aid programs.

Biden also laid out his vision for the first 100 days of his second term if reelected. He vowed to make Roe v. Wade “the law of the land.” Among the other policy goals he put forward, he vowed to sign into law new voting rights legislation, expand Social Security and Medicare by drawing in more tax revenue from wealthy Americans, raise the federal minimum wage, ban assault weapons and create a permanent child care tax credit. 

Biden's speech seemed designed to remind Democrats of the stakes of the upcoming election and underscore his belief that he is the best candidate to beat Trump, despite polls that have shown him trailing the former president. In recent weeks, Democratic fears that Biden would stumble and clear the way to a second Trump presidency — especially in the wake of a debate in late June in which Biden seemed tired and had a hard time forming coherent responses — have motivated the 11th-hour calls by some in Biden's own party to replace him at the top of the ticket.

Biden, speaking at what was his fourth campaign event in the state this year but his first actual campaign rally in Michigan since the 2020 election, acknowledged mistakes in that debate and that he sometimes misspeaks and transposes names. But he said Trump does that as well and that he has gotten "a free pass."

"Do you really want to go back to the chaos of Donald Trump as president?" Biden said, arguing that Trump's plans for tariffs and tax cuts will cause a recession and increase inflation, which has been falling in recent months.

"Hopefully, with age, comes a little wisdom. And here’s what I know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how and I’ve demonstrated how to do this job. And I know Americans want a president, not a dictator," he said later.

The speech was delivered less than 24 hours after a high-stakes news conference in Washington on Thursday during which Biden faced numerous questions about whether he should step down as the nominee.

Some attendees appeared split on the question.

Marcia Hales, 74, of Grosse Pointe Woods, said she thought another Democrat might have a better shot at beating Trump. On her walk to the rally, Hales — an abstract painter — said she plans to support Biden if he's the nominee. "But I really do think that we could get excited about somebody new, younger," she said.

But nursing instructor Pamela Dunbar, 65, of Oak Park, said Biden should stay in the race, saying if he beat Trump once, he can do it again. "And I don't think one bad debate should force him to move out," she said.

Certainly, the mood in the room was for the president to remain the nominee, with supporters holding banners saying "MOTOWN IS JOETOWN."

While Biden has repeatedly characterized the upcoming Nov. 5 election as a fight for American democracy and insisted that Trump poses an existential threat to the country's future, some Democrats have continued to cast serious doubts on Biden's claim that he can beat Trump.

As of Friday, at least 18 Democratic U.S. House members and one U.S. senator had called for him to step aside, especially following that disastrous debate in late June.

U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, is the only Democrat in Michigan's congressional delegation to do so. "With the challenges facing our country in 2025 and beyond, it is essential that we have the strongest possible candidate leading the top of the ticket- not just to win, but to govern," she said in a statement Thursday.

With every seat in the Michigan House of Representatives on the ballot this fall, state Rep. Phil Skaggs, D-East Grand Rapids, has expressed concern that having Biden on the ballot will hurt Democrats down ballot.  

But ahead of Biden's visit, a group of metro Detroit Democratic state lawmakers penned a letter expressing their "unwavering support" for their party's presumptive nominee, who is expected to formally receive the nomination in a virtual roll call before next month's convention in August if he remains in the race as he says he intends to. "Under President Biden's leadership, we have witnessed significant progress that directly impacts Black communities across Michigan and the nation at large," the letter states.

Traveling with the president to Michigan were three members of the state's U.S. House delegation, Reps. Debbie Dingell, of Ann Arbor, Haley Stevens, of Birmingham, and Thanedar, of Detroit. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime friend and supporter of the president's, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and actor Octavia Spencer greeted him on arrival and all delivered speeches at the rally as did Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II.

Missing from Biden's rally in Detroit was his top campaign surrogate in Michigan: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. She was absent due to a previously scheduled trip to Sun Valley, Idaho, according to her office.

Republicans criticized Biden before his visit, with Michigan GOP spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita predicting the president would "sleepwalk through his trip to Detroit."

Biden's visit was met by protests, too; a crowd of around 20 gathered near the event's entrance, many wearing keffiyehs. In addition to calls that he insist on an Israeli cease-fire in Gaza, chants demanded that the Democrats find a new presidential nominee. One man carried a sign that read "Pass the torch, Joe." 

"We're tired of business as usual," said Abdul Bari, of Detroit. He waved a Palestinian flag toward passing cars. Some honked, while others rolled up their windows as they headed toward the event. 

Dan Lombard, a peace activist, carried a large cardboard sign that read simply "CEASEFIRE," around the perimeter of the event. He was saddened by the calls for Biden to step down, he said, and doesn't think the president can't do the job — just that he's not right for it. 

Before heading to Renaissance High School for the rally, the president and his entourage stopped at a campaign organizing event at The Garage Grill & Fuel Bar in Northville to talk briefly with supporters and volunteers.

The last-minute pleadings from Democrats for Biden to step down as nominee frustrated Jonna Siano, 60, of Battle Creek, who attended the rally at Renaissance High. "I really feel that people describe it courageous right now to step up and tell him to bow out. I think courage would have been a year ago," she said. Now she bemoans what she sees as a lack of strategy among the Democratic Party.

Robert Tucker, 76, of Southfield, said Democrats should have stepped up to challenge Biden. Instead, they essentially handed Biden the nomination, he said, only to have second thoughts now.

The location of the Biden rally in Detroit holds significance for the president's reelection prospects. The biggest city in Michigan — a crucial battleground state — is one of the nation's largest majority-Black cities and a Democratic stronghold. But low turnout in Detroit could hamper Biden's chances of staying in office.

As he faces calls to drop out of the race, Biden has visited Democratic strongholds in key battleground states. In addition to his stop in Michigan on Friday, Biden has held campaign events in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. In 2016, Trump won those three previously dubbed "blue wall" states that hadn't backed the GOP presidential candidate since the 1980s. But Biden won the trio of toss-up states in 2020, defeating Trump.

Detroit Free Press Data Intern Carmela Guaglianone contributed to this article. 

Contact Clara Hendrickson:chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter,@clarajanehen. Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

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