Hawaii’s Democratic governor, Josh Green, said Saturday that President Biden could decide within days whether to stay in the presidential race and seek a second term.
This comes after Greene took part in a recent meeting with Biden and about 20 other Democratic governors amid growing concerns about the president’s reelection campaign following Biden’s shaky performance in last month’s debate with former President Donald Trump.
“The president will continue in this campaign unless he feels he can’t win or he feels he’s hearing from his aides that he shouldn’t run,” Greene, whose family has known the president for years, said in an interview. Associated Press“If the president felt he wasn’t capable, and he really wasn’t capable, he would step down.”
“We’ll probably know in the next few days how the president feels about this,” he added.
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President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk past a giant banyan tree with Hawaii Governor Josh Green, second from left, and his wife, Jamie Green, as they visit wildfire-affected areas of Maui on August 21, 2023 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Associated Press)
Greene said she believes Biden should be allowed to choose who would succeed him if he were to drop out of the race, and that the president would likely nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.
“If that happens, I think it’s pretty clear that the entire Democratic Party would be thrilled that the president would nominate a vice president,” Greene said.
Harris is “a powerful figure, a thought-leading woman, an African-American; [California’s] “There are no better qualified people to be attorney general than the current vice president,” Greene said.
Biden, 81, has repeatedly insisted over the past week and a half that he will continue to campaign, including in an interview with ABC News that aired Friday night.
But since his debate performance, concerns about Biden’s mental acuity have grown, including among Democrats. Some Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race, while others in the party, particularly governors, have said they will continue to support him for reelection.
Greene said her expectation that the president will make a decision within days takes into account the pressure he is expected to face when lawmakers return to the Capitol this week.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is trying to rally support among Democratic senators to discuss pressuring Biden to drop out of the presidential race at a meeting on Monday. Additionally, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is hosting an online meeting with Democratic leaders on Sunday where leaders will discuss the future direction of Biden’s campaign.
President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beyer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I really, honestly think that’s a decision that has to be made by him,” Greene said, “and it shouldn’t be made by another governor. It shouldn’t be made by anyone other than him and the advisors closest to his heart.”
Greene also emphasized that Trump, who at 78 is Biden’s biggest threat to reelection, is just three years Biden’s junior and that both will experience cognitive decline in the future.
But Greene argued that temperament matters more than age in a presidential election.
“Please, these two need to have the nuclear codes. We don’t need someone tweeting in the middle of the night ranting at other countries,” Greene said, referring to Trump. “That’s not OK. That’s not President Biden’s issue.”
Green, who was a physician before moving to the governor’s mansion, said that while we all have aging parents or grandparents who can no longer express themselves clearly or experience mental decline, they still bring a wealth of experience and wisdom and have a role to play in the family and should not be ignored.
“That’s why I support the president until he says otherwise,” Greene said.
Greene also spoke about her conversations with Biden and other Democratic governors, saying she asked Biden about his health and the president responded that everything was fine except for his brain.
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Hawaii Governor Josh Green speaks about the aftermath of the destruction of historic Lahaina and wildfires in West Maui during a press conference in Wailuku, Hawaii, August 10, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
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Greene said Biden’s previously published comments were made in jest and were taken out of context when they were leaked by others.
“It was a total joke. You have to be cognitively normal to make self-deprecating jokes,” Green said.
Greene also denied allegations that her advisers had set up the meeting to allow governors who support Biden to speak first to quell criticism, saying the reality was that the meeting was an open, unscripted conversation between governors with differing views.
“That call went as you would expect in a coffee shop: a few people let their mouths slip, a few people probably overly praised the president, but most were just trying to make sure, ‘Are you OK?'” Greene said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
