How Biden went from “bridge” candidate to two-term hopeful

Driving the news: Biden acknowledged during an interview with BET News that aired July 17 that he had originally run for president as a "transitional candidate" and that he had expected to "pass it on to somebody else."

• However, Biden said he hadn't expected how polarized the U.S. would become and that he had demonstrated "that I know how to get things done for the country."
• "There's more to do and I'm reluctant to walk away from that," he added.

Zoom in: Biden's struggles during the debate have set off mounting concerns among Democrats about his fitness for office and ability to beat former President Trump at the polls, bringing his old pledge to the forefront.

• "President Biden should fulfill his promise to be a bridge to the next generation of leadership — and allow a stronger Democratic candidate to prevent a disastrous second Trump term," former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julían Castro posted on X July 2.
• Top Democrats — including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — have ramped up pressure on Biden to withdraw from the race.

Flashback: Biden has said that seeing Trump's "both sides" response to the violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 was a major factor in his decision to launch a White House bid two years later.

• But his comments on the campaign trail suggested he wanted to pass the baton to a younger Democratic contender come this election.
• "I view myself as a transition candidate," Biden said at an online fundraiser in 2020, the New York Times reported.

Biden made a similar comment at a March 2020 campaign rally where he appeared alongside then-Sen. Kamala Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Cory Booker.

• "Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else," Biden said, per CNN. "There's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country."

The big picture: Biden never made an explicit public promise to serve just one term — though Politico reported that he had privately told advisers that he wouldn't run again.

Between the lines: Biden's campaign comments likely signaled that he was only running because of who his opponent was, Anthony Fowler, a professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, told Axios.

• "You could argue he's trying to kind of have it both ways. He's trying to kind of tell people, 'Don't worry, I'm only running for one term,' without ever actually explicitly promising that," Fowler said.

What they're saying: A spokesperson for the Biden campaign did not directly respond to questions about his past comments, instead pointing to the number of Democrats who support the current campaign.

• "President Biden is grateful for the dozens and dozens of congressional leaders, governors, advocacy group and union leaders and many other future leaders of the party who are crisscrossing the country and blanketing the airwaves on behalf of the President," spokesperson Seth Schuster told Axios.

• Their efforts are "highlighting the stakes of this election and reminding voters exactly why Joe Biden will beat Donald Trump," he added.

Zoom out: Biden's clinching of the 2020 nomination — despite early campaign struggles — gave him and his team a vote of confidence in Biden's strength as a candidate, the New York Times reported.

• Biden and his team were further emboldened by Democrats' better-than-predicted showing in the 2022 midterms as well as a string of legislative victories, per the Times.
• While it's "hard to psychologize" a sitting president, there's also the possibility that the power of the presidency, as well as some personal pride, are involved in Biden's reluctance to step down, Fowler said.
• "I'm sure he and his team were also thinking about the fact that there weren't any obviously better alternatives," he added.
• If Biden was confident in Vice President Kamala Harris' ability to win the 2024 election, he might have stepped aside to endorse her, Fowler said.

The bottom line: Biden's 2020 promises might not matter much to voters in the grand scheme of things, according to Fowler.

• "If the voters believed that Joe Biden was the best person for the job, and they were excited to vote for him, they would still be happy to vote for him regardless of whether he had said in 2020 that he was likely to be a one-term president or was just going to be a short-term bridge," he said.
• "Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of voters who are enthusiastic about voting for Biden right now."

Go deeper:

• Who Democrats could choose to replace Biden after his disastrous debate
• Scoop: Republicans target Harris in new ad amid Biden questions