President Joe Biden tests positive for COVID-19 while campaigning in Las Vegas

President Joe Biden cut his Nevada campaign swing short Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19.

The White House said Biden, who left Las Vegas aboard Air Force One this afternoon, was experiencing mild symptoms.

The diagnosis led the Biden campaign to call off a planned speech to the UnidosUS annual conference, which was taking place at the MGM Grand. Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the group, which bills itself as the largest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S., delivered news of the canceled speech to the audience shortly before Biden was to take the stage at a ballroom in the Strip resort.

“We are disappointed to not hear from him here today,” Murguía said to the disappointed crowd.

Biden’s positive test came after he made a stop at the Lindo Michoacan Mexican restaurant on Desert Inn Road, where he was mingling with customers, making small talk and taking selfies as he went table to table before participating in a taped radio interview with Univision. That interview is set to air Thursday.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said in a statement that Biden was vaccinated and boosted. The White House said he was headed to his home in Delaware, where he will self-isolate and continue with his presidential duties.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, said in a statement that Biden received a first dose of Paxlovid, the prescription treatment for mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.

O’Connor said in a note that Biden “presented this afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorrhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general malaise.”

The president has tested positively for COVID-19 in July 2022. He recovered without being hospitalized.

There was no immediate sign that the COVID diagnosis could have any impact on Biden’s insistence that he will stay in the presidential race against former President Donald Trump.

Biden is battling significant calls from Democrats to step down from the race after his shaky performance in their debate last month.

Earlier today, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California joined in calling on Biden to drop out of the race.

Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a senator, a vice president, and now as president has made our country better,’’ Schiff said in a statement first reported by the Los Angeles Times. “But our nation is at a crossroads. A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Schiff said whoever winds up leading the Democratic ticket — whether it remains Biden or another candidate — he will do whatever it takes to help them win.

“There is only one singular goal: defeating Donald Trump. The stakes are just too high,’’ Schiff said.

Schiff, who gained a national reputation as lead prosecutor of Trump’s first impeachment trial, is among the most prominent Democrats to call for Biden to step aside. A close ally of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he is currently the front-runner for California’s open Senate seat.

Schiff said it was time for Biden to “pass the torch,’’ using a phrase that some of the president’s most pointed Democratic critics have adopted.

Since the Trump assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Biden has delivered a national address from the Oval Office, sat for an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt and made a swing through Southern Nevada, where he delivered remarks at the NAACP National Convention on Tuesday and attended an economic summit in North Las Vegas co-hosted by Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, who represents the district.

The efforts apparently did not convince Schiff that Biden can lead the party to victory, and it’s unclear whether they will stabilize the president’s poll numbers.

A poll released today by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 65% of Democrats say Biden should withdraw from the race and allow the party to select another candidate. The survey was conducted July 11-15, and mostly completed before a gunman fired at Trump at a campaign rally.

It found demographic splits, with 56% of Democrats under 45 either very or somewhat dissatisfied with Biden as the party’s nominee. Among older Democrats, support for Biden to drop out was smaller, but still 43%. Black Democrats remain Biden’s strongest allies, with half saying he should remain in the race, compared with just a third of white and Latino Democrats.

Nearly half of Democrats polled said they did not think Biden, who is 81 and admitted having a “bad night” in the debate, has the mental capacity to serve another four years as president. That’s up about a third from a similar survey in February.

The poll also found 6 in 10 Americans overall want Trump to withdraw from the race, but among Republicans, he remains popular.

[email protected] / 702-990-8949 / @HillaryLVSun