President Joe Biden arrives to speak in the Cross Hall of the White House Monday, July 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

The Democratic president has signaled he has no intention of dropping out of the race despite the halting and uneven debate delivery that threw a spotlight on questions about Biden’s age. But as Democrats make the case the stakes of the election are momentous they’re wrestling with how to approach the 81-year-old.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump. (AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Biden’s campaign entered February with nearly $56 million cash reserves in his main campaign committee compared to a little more than $30 million in the coffers of Trump’s equivalent account.

President Joe Biden speaks from the Treaty Room in the White House on April 14, 2021, about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik, Pool, File)

The announcement, in a three-minute video, comes on the four-year anniversary of when Biden declared for the White House in 2019, promising to heal the “soul of the nation” amid the turbulent presidency of Donald Trump — a goal that has remained elusive.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson celebrates with supporters after defeating Paul Vallas after the mayoral runoff election late Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo / Paul Beaty, File)

In Chicago, a former teacher’s union organizer unexpectedly won the mayor’s race. In St. Louis, progressives secured a majority on the municipal board. The next opportunities could lie in Philadelphia and Houston, which also hold mayoral elections this year.

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh)

The president’s direction came as the DNC rules committee gathered in Washington on Friday to vote on shaking up the presidential primary calendar starting in 2024. Members now expect to approve new rules putting South Carolina first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on the same day a week later.

Black Americans have historically been the most reliable voting block for the Democratic Party for decades. But in her book, “Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future,” Chicago native and Harvard research director Brandi Collins-Dexter says the picture is much more nuanced.

State Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez. (Provided)

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly dropped out of the contest Friday afternoon, acknowledging her bid to serve a full four-year term as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, known as the DPI, “will come up just shy of the necessary majority.”

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Illinois’ population closely represents the nation as a whole, whether measured by race, age, income or education, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Chicago), the chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, wrote to Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, adding that Illinois not only includes Chicago, but also rural areas devoted to agriculture dotted by small towns.

Members of the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee hear testimony on a new map of state congressional districts in this file photo from Nov. 16, 2021, at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo / Julie Carr Smyth, File)

As the once-a-decade scramble to draw new legislative lines, a process known as redistricting, nears its conclusion, Democrats have succeeded in shifting the congressional map to the left. But all that could change.

In this image from Senate Television, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., speaks on the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Senate Television via AP)

Despite a day of piercing debate and speeches that often carried echoes of an earlier era when the Senate filibuster was deployed by opponents of civil rights legislation, Democrats could not persuade holdout senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia to change the Senate procedures on this one bill and allow a simple majority to advance it.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, speaks to the media after Senate Democrats met privately with President Joe Biden, Jan. 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. ( AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana, File)

Voting legislation that’s a top priority for Democrats and civil rights leaders seemed headed for defeat as the Senate opened Tuesday, a devastating setback as two holdout Democratic senators refuse to support rule changes to overcome a Republican filibuster.

A file photo shows U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly. (WTTW News)

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly cannot solicit campaign funds for candidates running in state contests as the head of the Democratic Party of Illinois, the Federal Election Commission ruled Thursday. Instead, the party can create a separate committee to seek campaign cash.

President Joe Biden delivers a speech on voting rights at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden declared preserving voting rights an urgent national “test of our time” on Tuesday but offered few concrete proposals to meet it. Texas Democrats took their own dramatic action to stymie Republican efforts to tighten ballot restrictions in their state.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (Facebook photo)

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Chicago) was elected the new chair of the Illinois Democratic Party on Wednesday evening, becoming the first Black person and first woman elected to lead the state party into a new era after the resignation of Michael Madigan. 

Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward), left, and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Chicago). (Courtesy of Harris and Kelly)

The next chair of the Illinois Democratic Party — the first in nearly a quarter century — will be either Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward) or U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Chicago). Whichever candidate emerges victorious will be charged with leading the party into a new era as its first Black and first female chair.

In this Feb. 24, 2021, file photo, a sign directs Republican and Democrat legislators to their parking areas as a N.H. State Trooper watches the flow of traffic prior to a New Hampshire House of Representatives session held at NH Sportsplex, due to the coronavirus in Bedford, N.H. (AP Photo / Charles Krupa, File)

Amid bipartisan calls to dial back extreme partisanship following the insurrection, the intentional misuse of “Democrat” as an adjective remains in nearly universal use among Republicans. Propelled by conservative media, it also has caught on with far-right elements that were energized by the Trump presidency.