Van Jones on pressure on Biden to step down: ‘This is the endgame’

CNN analyst Van Jones said the rising pressure President Biden faces from voters and leading members of his party to leave the race could soon come to a head.

“This is the endgame now,” he said during coverage of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday. “You may be able to run out the clock and stay on the ticket. But you got to lead. And we have a big coalition.”

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is reported to be leading the charge of Democrats urging Biden to leave the presidential campaign, with concerns that Biden can’t win another term in office. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have also reportedly privately encouraged Biden to step aside.

Big-name Democratic donors including George Clooney have also called on Biden to pass the torch, or warned him that campaign cash is drying up.

And while Biden has said “elites” telling him to quit don’t represent Democratic voters, a significant majority of Democrats in a recent poll also indicated they would prefer a different nominee.

Jones noted that despite some voters, especially Black voters, standing by Biden, the pressure is getting too significant to bear.

“You have a lot of African American voters who are still with Joe Biden. They still want him to stick in there,” he said. “We’re used to seeing our leader stumble. We’re used to seeing our leaders be attacked by the media in ways that aren’t fair. And we’re slow to let go of somebody’s hand. So I’m proud that the Black grassroots is standing with Joe Biden, but the party is bigger than that.”

“The donors are walking away. The best people in our party, the smartest people in our party, are looking at the math and saying the math don’t math,” he continued. “And so it’s important I think that we recognize that this could be this is the endgame, one way or the other.”

Biden has soundly rejected the calls to step down, though CNN reported Wednesday that his mindset has shifted to considering whether Vice President Harris could win in November, perhaps hinting that the president could be considering an out.

Harris is the top name floated to replace Biden should he leave the race, with a long list of notable Democrats expected to vie to be her vice presidential candidate on a new ticket. Four prominent Democrats polled 5 points higher than Biden in key swing states in a survey released this week.

The presidential race remains fairly close nationally, with former President Trump leading Biden by 1.9 percent, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of national polls.