Biden meeting with Congressional Black Caucus amid calls to withdraw

President Biden will meet virtually Monday night with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) amid growing calls from Democrats for the party’s presumptive nominee to step aside.

On the call with CBC members, Biden will “discuss the stakes of the 2024 election and their shared commitment to beating Donald Trump this November,” the campaign said in a statement.

Biden will deliver remarks on the call and answer questions from CBC members, the campaign added.

The meeting comes as the Biden campaign seeks to quell growing discontent about keeping Biden at the top of the ticket and continues to deal with the fallout from Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

At least six House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside, including Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), who earlier on Monday became the most senior House Democrat to do so. He is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Other House Democrats, according to reports, have expressed similar sentiments privately.

Amid public skepticism, many CBC members have emerged as some of the president’s most loyal backers.

CBC Chair Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) issued a statement Monday morning, saying Biden “is the nominee and has been selected by millions of voters across this country, including voters here in Nevada.”

“They know President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting for them. Like me, they don’t want to see Donald Trump back in the Whtie House and are ready to work and VOTE to ensure that doesn’t happen,” he continued. “We’re not going back, we’re moving forward.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.) — the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee and the former chair of the Jan. 6 select committee — similarly reaffirmed his support for Biden.

“I want to make it clear: As a senior Democrat in the U.S. House, I fully support our President and Vice President, and we will defeat Trump again! #BackingBiden #BackingBidenHarris,” Thompson wrote on the social platform X, later adding, “Together we stand, Divided we fall!.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a former CBC chair, also made it clear that she backs Biden, saying, “The choice for American leadership and our democracy is clear.”

“It’s Joe Biden! @JoeBiden has done more for our country and our democracy than House Republicans and the convicted felon and insurrectionists they so warmly embrace. I put people over politics. I stand with TEAM BIDEN HARRIS,” she continued.

Biden and his campaign have maintained that he will not drop out of the race. Biden, in an interview Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” dared other Democrats to challenge him at the national convention this summer, emphasizing that he believes he is the best candidate to beat Trump.