Democratic governors say they support Biden amid questions about his debate woes
WASHINGTON: A group of Democratic governors said they are supporting President Joe Biden, even as some members of their party are increasingly calling for him to drop out of the presidential race.
Biden met in person and virtually at the White House for more than an hour with more than 20 governors from his party. The governors later told reporters the conversation was “candid” and said they had raised concerns about Biden’s performance in last week’s debate.
But they did not join other Democrats in urging him to drop out of the race.
“The president is our candidate. The president is the leader of our party,” said Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland. He added that Biden “made it very clear at the meeting that he’s in this to win.”
A fearless Biden on Wednesday pledged to seek re-election, bucking mounting pressure from Democrats to withdraw after his dismal debate performance raised doubts about his willingness to continue campaigning, much less win in November.
But the signs have been increasingly ominous for the president. Two Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to withdraw from the race, while a leading ally has publicly suggested the party might choose someone else. And veteran aides have said they believe he may have just a few days to show he is up to the challenge before unrest in the party reaches a fever pitch.
“Let me say this as clearly as I can, as simply and directly as I can: I am running … nobody is pushing me out,” Biden said during a call with his re-election campaign staff. “I am not leaving. I am in this race to the end, and we will win.”
Yet despite his efforts to pull multiple levers — whether it was his impromptu appearance with campaign aides, private conversations with high-ranking lawmakers, a weekend of travel and a televised interview — to salvage his shaky reelection, Biden faced serious and growing signs that support for him was rapidly ebbing on Capitol Hill and among other allies.
Representative Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, told The New York Times that while he supports Biden as long as he is the nominee, “this is an opportunity to look elsewhere” and what Biden “has to do is take responsibility for keeping this seat — and part of that responsibility is getting out of this race.”
Veteran Biden aides said they believe Biden, 81, has just days to make a convincing case that he is fit for office before his party’s panic over his debate performance and anger over his response boil over, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely. The president, they said, acknowledges the urgency of the task — after analyzing polls and a huge amount of media coverage — but is confident he can do it in the coming days and has emphasized that he will not drop out of the race.
Meanwhile, a major Democratic donor, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, also called on the president to drop out of the race, saying, “Biden must step down to allow a vibrant Democratic leader to defeat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous,” a statement first reported by The New York Times.
And it all comes after Rep. Jim Clyburn, a longtime Biden friend and confidante, said he would support a “mini-primary” before next month’s Democratic National Convention if Biden drops out of the race. The South Carolina Democrat floated the idea, which appeared to lay the groundwork for an alternate delegate election, during Democrats’ planned virtual roll call, which is scheduled ahead of the party’s more formal convention, which is set to begin Aug. 19 in Chicago.
On CNN, Clyburn said Vice President Kamala Harris, governors and others could join the race: “It would be fair to everyone.”
Clyburn, a senior lawmaker and former member of his party’s House leadership, said he had never seen the president in person behave the way he did on the debate stage last week and called it “troubling.”
And while other Democratic allies have been quiet since Thursday’s debate, private frustration has been growing over the Biden campaign’s response to his dismal debate performance at a key moment in the campaign — particularly the fact that Biden waited several days before engaging in direct damage control with senior members of his own party.
One Democratic aide said the lack of response was worse than the debate performance itself, saying lawmakers who support Biden want him to directly address concerns about his stamina in front of reporters and voters. The aide was granted anonymity so he could discuss the bipartisan dynamics candidly.
Most Democratic lawmakers have taken a wait-and-see approach to Biden, waiting for a better sense of developments based on new polls and Biden’s scheduled interview with ABC News, said the Democratic lawmakers, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the president.
When Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who this week called on Biden to drop out of the race, sought support from other Democratic lawmakers, he found no takers and ultimately issued the statement himself, according to a person familiar with the initiative who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss it.