A growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers called Friday for President Joe Biden to drop his re-election bid, even as the U.S. president insisted he’s ready to return to the campaign trail next week to counter what he called a “dark vision” laid out by Republican Donald Trump.
As more Democratic members of Congress called for him to drop out Friday — bringing the total since his disastrous debate against Trump to at least 30 — Biden remained isolated at his beach house in Delaware after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
The president, who has insisted he can beat Trump, was huddling with family and relying on a few longtime aides as he resisted efforts to shove him aside.
The Biden for President campaign is calling an all-staff meeting Friday. At the same time, the Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm is also meeting, pressing ahead with plans for a virtual roll call before Aug. 7 to nominate the presidential pick, ahead of the party’s convention later that month.
In a statement levelling specific criticisms of Trump’s speech Thursday night in accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Biden gave no hint of changing his mind, saying he was looking forward to “getting back on the campaign trail next week.”
Jen O’Malley Dillon, the chair of the Biden-Harris campaign, told MSNBC on Friday morning that the president is the best person to take on Trump and that while recent weeks have been bumpy and have resulted in “slippage” in the polls, the campaign sees a “path forward” to victory on Nov. 5.
It’s a pivotal few days for the president and his party: Trump capped an enthusiastic Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, but several Democratic lawmakers think the three-time nominee is beatable, with many legislators panning his Thursday night speech as short on specifics and full of misrepresentations of his record as president between 2017 and 2021.
But Democrats, racing against time, are considering the extraordinary possibility of Biden, 82 in November, stepping aside for a new presidential nominee before their own convention.
The internal tumult began after a disastrous showing in an unprecedented June presidential debate — by all accounts wanted by the Biden campaign to re-engage Americans as to Trump’s faults — as well as follow-up interviews the president has conducted that have failed to allay concerns.
“President Biden deserves the respect to have important family conversations with members of the caucus and colleagues in the House and Senate and Democratic leadership and not be battling leaks and press statements,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Biden’s closest friend in Congress and his campaign co-chair, told The Associated Press.
As a growing number of Democrats call for Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 U.S. presidential race ahead of the Democratic National Convention, About That producer Lauren Bird breaks down the options to replace him on the ballot and what makes some of them especially challenging.
Growing number of Democrats putting pressure on Biden
More in Congress are considering joining the others who have called for Biden to drop out.
Some prefer an open process for choosing a new presidential nominee.
“It’s clear the issue won’t go away,” said Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, the other Senate Democrat who has publicly said Biden should exit the race.
Welch said the current state of party angst — with lawmakers panicking and donors revolting — was “not sustainable.”
New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich also called on Biden to exit the race, making him the third Senate Democrat to do so.
“By passing the torch, he would secure his legacy as one of our nation’s greatest leaders and allow us to unite behind a candidate who can best defeat Donald Trump and safeguard the future of our democracy,” said Heinrich, who’s up for re-election.
Prominent California Rep. Adam Schiff is the latest senior Democrat calling on Joe Biden to exit the U.S. presidential race. Schiff urged Biden, who is now sick with COVID-19, to ‘pass the torch,’ citing ‘‘serious concerns’ about his chances of beating Donald Trump in the November election.
Several House members also did so early Friday, with Zoe Lofgren of California among the most senior members of the chamber to do so since the debate.
Reps. Jared Huffman, Mark Veasey, Chuy Garcia and Mark Pocan, representing a wide swath of the caucus, together called on Biden to step aside.
“We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy,” they wrote.
Separately, Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois wrote in an op-ed that with “a heavy heart and much personal reflection” he, too, was calling on Biden to “pass the torch to a new generation.”
Republicans says they’re ready if there’s a change
Democrats at the highest levels have been making a critical push for Biden to rethink his election bid, with former president Barack Obama expressing concerns to allies and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi privately telling Biden the party could lose the ability to seize control of the House if he doesn’t step away from the 2024 race.
Influential congressional figures including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries are sending signals of strong concern.
Some Democratic lawmakers in Congress have begun having private conversations about lining up behind Vice-President Kamala Harris as an alternative.
Trump’s co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita said in interviews with U.S. media outlets that Harris attack ads are ready if necessary.
But Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, acknowledging that Trump is 78, told CNN that the Democrats would clearly be energized if they selected a younger candidate. Harris turns 60 in October.
Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination in a long, rambling and highly personal speech Thursday that recounted the recent attempt on his life before moving into rhetorical attacks on Joe Biden, China, current U.S. trade policy, America’s role in the war in Ukraine and a string of other issues he pledged to fix if elected.
Aides insist Biden still focused on Election Day
Biden campaign officials, however, said the president was even more committed to staying in the race.
And senior West Wing aides have had no internal discussions or conversations with the president about dropping out.
On Friday, Biden picked up a key endorsement from the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
CHC BOLD PAC said the Biden administration has shown “unwavering commitment” to Latinos and “the stakes couldn’t be higher” in this election. But there is also time to reconsider.
Biden has been told the campaign is having trouble raising money, and key Democrats see an opportunity as he is away from the campaign for a few days to encourage his exit. Among his Cabinet, some are resigned to the likelihood of him losing in November.
The president himself, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive, dismissed the idea it was too late for him to recover politically, telling Univision’s Luis Sandoval that many people don’t focus on the November election until September.
Among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. That sharply undercuts Biden’s post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him.
The reporting in this story is based in part on information from almost a dozen people who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive private deliberations with the Associated Press. The Washington Post first reported on Obama’s involvement.
A conservative think tank document called Project 2025 is fueling fierce attacks in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election. CBC’s Lauren Bird cuts through the noise and breaks down the policy, who’s behind it, and why it’s so controversial.
