Democratic leaders in Congress have been rallying behind Biden as many in the party privately and publicly question whether he can perform as a top presidential candidate after Biden’s disastrous defeat in last month’s debate in Atlanta.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer of New York on Monday reiterated their previous support for Biden, the party’s presumptive nominee, despite the backlash during the debate.
“The day after the debate, I made it very clear that I support Joe Biden for president and the Democratic nominee,” Jeffries told reporters at the Capitol. “My position has not changed.”
At the same time, however, opposition to Biden’s reelection is growing within the Democratic Party.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, made waves on Monday when he became the sixth House Democrat to publicly call for Biden to step down, adding fuel to a public resistance to Biden that has been growing more visible behind the scenes.
Smith said Biden has an impressive track record of running electoral battles, but is no longer able to communicate that record to the public in a way that will energize voters and give Democrats the best chance of beating Trump.
“I think he should step down,” Smith said on CNN’s “The Lead.” “It’s clear that he’s not the best person to deliver the Democratic message.”
Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., who has openly opposed keeping Biden on the ballot, said he and many other Democrats are in favor of it but are simply waiting for the right time to make the announcement.
“That will be the case,” he said. “Let’s just let it happen.”
But Biden returned to Washington on Monday from a lengthy Fourth of July recess and drew support from other leading lawmakers committed to the president.
“He’s made it very clear that he’s in this race, he’s not withdrawing from this race, he’s the nominee,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who said she spoke with Biden over the weekend, told reporters at the Capitol on Monday. “I’m committed to supporting him and I’m focused on winning this election in November.”
The growing internal divisions will be front and center on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning in a closed-door meeting where Democratic leaders will meet face-to-face with rank-and-file members of the House Democratic Caucus for the first time since their June 27 debate.
Biden at times stuttered, stumbled, lost his train of thought and changed the subject mid-reply during the 90-minute speech — a performance that stunned Democrats and raised the unthinkable question of whether he should continue to seek a second term.
Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., said Monday he wasn’t ready to call on Biden to step down but would be watching closely this week to see if his team has a strategy to win in several battleground states that will determine who holds power in Washington next year.
“I’m not confident in the race,” Peters said. “Beating Trump in the battleground states is going to be a tough task. We needed the debate boost, but it’s had the opposite effect. We have to think hard about how we win in these states.”
One House Democrat who has said Biden should step aside predicted Monday that more lawmakers would publicly call for the president to drop out of the race if the data showed Democrats were at risk of losing the House if Biden emerged as the top candidate. The lawmaker argued those poll numbers were delayed because of the Fourth of July holiday.
“My sense is we’re going to get a ton of data coming back this week, and if there’s a big runoff in some battleground districts and we don’t win the House, that’s going to be a big deal, because at the end of the day, our job is to win the House,” said the lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the topic.
“We’re just afraid of losing everything,” the Democrat added. “And that’s exactly what people are afraid of, to be honest.”
The incident presents a tough challenge for Jeffries and other Democratic leaders as they struggle to quell growing anxiety within the party about Biden’s health and unite the party to keep Trump out of the White House.
Tuesday’s meeting, held at the party’s campaign headquarters to discuss the election campaign, will be a key step in that process, and in a sign of how sensitive the conversations will be, lawmakers have been asked not to bring their mobile phones.
“The caucus will be a great opportunity to make sure all of our members are heard,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., told reporters on Monday.
Others suggested it would be a tense affair.
“You’ve got people on both sides,” said Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., an ardent Biden supporter. “You’ve got people like me who are totally supportive of the president. You’ve got people who are so scared for their own district that they want to see Biden lose the election.”
“So I think this is going to be a big fight, but I don’t think we’re going to reach an agreement.”
In a bid to rally support, Biden held a conference call with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) on Monday night, taking the opportunity to solidify support from a group that is virtually united in his support for the presidential bid.
“The group that is most loyal to the Democratic Party is the black community, absolutely. So I’m glad that he’s recognizing that,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said shortly before the call. “The policies that he’s promoted have worked and have been good for the country. And typically, we judge people on their record.”
Rep. Jeffries, the top House Democrat, endorsed Biden on Monday, but not all of Biden’s leadership followed suit.
Clarke, the No. 3 House Democrat, did not directly answer a question about whether Biden was the best person to clearly convey the party’s message ahead of the November election, saying “we’re going to continue to have conversations about that,” but the omission raises questions about her preferred strategy.
“We stand by the work we’ve done with this president,” she said.
Rep. Ted Lieu of California, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, similarly declined to answer questions about Biden’s viability as a nominee, deferring to his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Other Democrats have also expressed skepticism that Biden will emerge as the top candidate.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the House Progressive Caucus, told reporters that she would “continue to listen” to her fellow caucus members, but that they needed to look at the president’s “off-script” situations as they considered whether to keep him on as the party’s nominee.
“Even though he’s our candidate now, I don’t think having public conversations that are damaging to our candidate is necessarily a good thing,” she added. “I think the private conversations are important.”
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pennsylvania) said she “supports the president,” but added that she “has a clear view of the challenges we face.”
“I’ve talked to party leaders, I’ve talked to campaigns, I’ve talked to the administration and most importantly, I’ve talked to my constituents, and they’re very divided,” she continued.
As the debate continues and opponents grow more vocal, all sides agree this is not a fight Democrats want with just four months to go until the November election.
“There’s a lot of talk going on, but at the end of the day, if the president is running, he’s our candidate,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif. “We can’t win this election if we’re all divided.”
Berra said he was encouraged by recent steps Biden has taken to rehabilitate his image after the debate, including a scathing letter he sent to Democratic lawmakers on Monday morning vowing to continue his campaign and urging them to unite behind him.
“His letter was pretty intense,” Berra said. “If that’s the case, let’s take that anger and put that energy into it and win this case.”
Others were even more critical of the critics, with Vargas describing the debate as a “circular firing squad.”
“Right now, our team has its own players tackling the quarterback. And certainly, you don’t win games by tackling your own quarterback,” he said. “At the end of the day, if we lose, it’s because of us, not Biden.”
Alice Foley contributed.
