Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Senate Democrat publicly call for Biden to end his campaign following the President’s shakey debate performance against Trump last month. Since then, this plea has only intensified.

On Thursday night, President Joe Biden is scheduled to hold a news conference at 6:30 p.m ET as he faces increased pressure to drop out of the presidential race. However, some Black experts tell The Root why the very important Black-voter block should and may still restore their faith in Biden.

Bishop Reginald T. Jackson of Georgia, insists Biden should not drop out of the race. “He is the Democratic nominee for president and I don’t believe that he should step aside. They want him to step aside because of his age,’’ he said.

Rev. Jackson, who is the Bishop of AME Church in Georgia, continued. “Are you saying to me that Donald Trump— who lies every time his lips move—is more qualified than Joe Biden just because he stutters? Are you saying that Donald Trump—the man who encouraged insurrectionists try to overthrow the US government—is more qualified than Joe Biden who’s given more than 50 years of his life in service to this country?”

Jackson’s questions maybe rhetorical, but it encompasses the brutal political reality Americans are facing. Biden is hoping that NATO’s 75th-anniversary meeting will be a way to highlight his support for Ukraine in its continued fight against Russia and to galvanize his campaign. It could also serve as a launching pad to re-engage voters with the Biden-Harris campaign.

Biden has always credited Black voters for his 2020 presidential win. In 2020, 87 percent of Black men and 93 percent of Black women voted for Biden. “Because Black Americans voted, Kamala and I are President and Vice President of the United States — because of you,” Biden said at a rally in Philadelphia in May. “That’s not hyperbole. Because you voted, Donald Trump is a defeated former president.”

Fast-forward to earlier this year, when the Wall Street Journal reported that 57 percent of Black men and 77 percent of Black women plan on voting for Biden this time around — quite the palpable shift. Trump has attempted to cash in on this noticeable skepticism, as evidenced by his failed attempt to garner followers at a Black church event in Detroit over the weekend (Biden won nearly 95 percent of the Black vote there in 2020).

But Trump won’t stop attempting to court the Black vote. And thanks to Biden’s wildly divisive debate performance , his gulf with Black voters threatens to grow. Thus the pressing question: How does Biden turn it around?

According to legal expert and former electoral campaign advisor Jarrod Loadholt, Black folks are still in Biden’s corner—it’s just a matter of numbers.

“The majority of Black voters will vote for Joe Biden in November,’’ said Loadholt, who is a legal partner at Ice Miller LLP. “The question is: How many?”

Aside from the numbers, Loadholt said we have to unpack who the Black vote really is. “We’ve got to have a really focused conversation about what Black people have gotten from this administration with that infrequent Black voters set in the swing states that we know will determine this election: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada.”

Loadholt says many people, Black people included, are on the bubble about voting, with a couch seeming like the better option.

To Loadholt’s point, Biden has ramped up his Black voter outreach over the last several months, including giving commencement speeches at HBCUs, the launch of Jill Biden’s “Women for Biden-Harris” highlighting Black women-owned businesses and White House listening sessions in Black communities in almost a dozen states.

Good stuff, but to the disenchanted voter this may not be enough.

However, Antjuan Seawright, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, encourages Black folks to not necessarily get rid of their reservations about Biden but think about the bigger picture.

“This bump in the road that we are experiencing within our party is one that we must get over very quickly. I think the president must restore the trust and confidence of all voters. But certainly you take care of the most loyal voters first,” he says to The Root.

“The group that continued to stand by him through it all through his careers, both the ups and the downs, personal and professional. And that’s Black voters. And so I think you’ll see the President do that.” Seawright is also optimistic about the Biden campaign. “I think you’ll see that reflective in his outreach over the next coming days and weeks. I think you’ll see that prioritized and how the campaign spends its dollars, its resources, its time and efforts.”

At tonight’s conference, Biden needs to remind Black voters exactly who Trump is and how his being allowed to serve another term in the Oval Office could be catastrophic for our communities. Bishop Jackson’s words perfectly encapsulate this sentiment.

“I think the Democrats need to understand that we are at war. We are at war against Trump. We are at war against MAGA. We are at war against [Project] 2025. We need to deploy all of our troops in this war so we can win this victory in November.”