Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, has repeatedly said he’s not backing down, adamant that he’s the candidate who beat Trump before and can do so again.
ADVERTISEMENTDemocrats at the highest levels are making a push for President Joe Biden to reevaluate his election bid.
Former President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as Vice President, has reportedly privately expressed concerns to allies that Biden needs to consider the viability of his campaign but has also made clear that the decision is one Biden himself needs to make.
Obama has taken calls in recent days from members of congressional leadership, Democratic governors and key donors to discuss their concerns about Biden’s health.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has also privately told Biden the party could lose the ability to seize control of the House if he doesn’t step away from the 2024 race.
Pelosi also presented polling to Biden that she argued shows he likely can’t defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump.
With time racing toward the Democratic party convention next month, unease is growing at the White House and within the campaign at a fraught moment for the president and his party.
Biden himself has repeatedly insisted he’s not backing down, adamant that he’s the candidate who beat Trump before and will do so again.
Pressed about reports that Biden might be softening to the idea of leaving the race, his deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said on Thursday, «He is not wavering on anything.»
However, influential Democrats at the head of the party apparatus, including congressional leadership headed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are sending signals of concern.
Some Democrats hope Biden, who is currently off the campaign trail after testing positive for COVID-19, will take a fresh look at the trajectory of the race and his legacy over the coming days.
Using data showing Biden’s standing could seriously damage the ranks of Democrats in Congress, frank conversations in public and private and now the president’s own few days of isolation, many Democrats see an opportunity to encourage a reassessment.
If Democrats are seriously preparing the extraordinary step of replacing Biden and moving Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket, this weekend will be critical to changing the president’s mind, other people familiar with the private conversations said.
One said it’s now or never ahead of a planned virtual roll call to nominate the party’s choice in early August, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Over the past week, Schumer and Jeffries, both of New York, have spoken privately to the president, candidly laying out the concerns of Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Control of the House and Senate is at stake and leaders are keenly aware that a Republican sweep in November could launch Trump’s agenda for years to come.
ADVERTISEMENTSeparately, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, spoke with the president last week armed with fresh data. The campaign chief specifically aired the concerns of front-line Democrats seeking election to the House.
On Wednesday, California Rep. Adam Schiff, a close ally of Pelosi, called for Biden to drop his re-election bid, saying he believes it’s time to «pass the torch.»
And Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a prominent Democrat warning of Trump’s rise, used a baseball metaphor to suggest in a recent letter to Biden, «There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics.»
Biden, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive for COVID-19, 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.
ADVERTISEMENT«All the talk about who’s leading and where and how, is kind of, you know — everything so far between Trump and me has been basically even,» he said in an excerpt released on Thursday.
