Biden assures supporters the primary is still ‘wide open’ in lengthy phone call: report

Former Vice President Joe Biden reportedly sought to reassure supporters Wednesday after his performance trailing several candidates in the first two nominating states. 

“I’ll be damned if we’re gonna lose this nomination, particularly if we’re gonna lose this nomination and end up losing an election to Donald Trump,” Biden said in a roughly 13-minute call to supporters, Politico reported Wednesday.

Biden reportedly said the field is “still wide open” and that he is “confident” he can win in South Carolina and Nevada, the next two states to hold primaries and caucuses. 

“The point is that, I want you to know that things haven’t changed in terms of responses we’re getting, in terms of whether it’s contributions online or whether it’s endorsements since both of those primaries have taken place,” he said, adding that he raised more than $4 million online in the first 11 days of this month. 

He also said he raised $453,000 online on Tuesday, the day of the New Hampshire primary, according to Politico. 

“So my point is that we’ve not seen any diminution in the energy or in endorsements,” he said.

On the call, he also reportedly said it will be “fairly hard” for candidates like former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to “go South.”

Both Buttigieg and Klobuchar performed better than Biden in New Hampshire, as did Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who won the first-in-the-state primary. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also had a narrow lead over Biden, pushing the former vice president into fifth place, but neither Warren nor Biden received delegates from New Hampshire. 

Biden is now pushing South Carolina, the first primary state with a significant black population, as a strong point for his campaign. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Biden leading in the state with 31 percent, followed by businessman Tom Steyer at 18.5 percent and Sanders at 17 percent. 

A spokesperson for Biden’s campaign was not immediately available for comment.