The debate over President Biden’s future has put Democrats in turmoil, with some urging the party to stick with the 81-year-old incumbent while a growing number of officeholders call for him to step down.
The battle is creating divides in both the House and the Senate, though no Democratic senators so far have called on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. But members of both caucuses have raised serious reservations about whether he should remain at the top of the ticket.
“I have a lot of concerns and, I’m not the only one. I’ve been hearing a lot of concerns from folks back home in Minnesota. I think right now our party is having a big robust discussion about what comes next,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said.
But Smith acknowledged an essential fact that’s not lost on many of her Senate Democratic colleagues: The decision about whether to stay in the race rests entirely with Biden, and trying to force his hand may be counterproductive.
Biden on Monday railed against “elites” in the party trying to push him out of the race.
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites … the elites in the party. ‘Oh, they know so much more.’ Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention,” Biden declared defiantly during a surprise call to NBC’s “Morning Joe.”
That leaves unclear exactly how the drama will end, since it is unlikely that worries about Biden’s health and ability to lead the country for four more years will disappear.
That’s bad news for Democrats because the bitter infighting is likely to hurt Biden or any other nominee in the fall.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reiterated his support for the embattled president Monday.
“As I’ve said before, I’m for Joe,” Schumer told reporters as he walked into the Capitol on Monday, ignoring follow-up questions.
Yet Schumer’s caucus appears divided over how far to go in defending Biden.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), one of the Senate’s most endangered incumbents, said Biden must reassure voters he’s up to the job — stern advice that other Democratic senators have directed at the president.
“President Biden has got to prove to the American people — including me — that he’s up to the job for another four years. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to do what I’ve always done: Stand up to President Biden when he’s wrong and protect our Montana way of life,” Tester said in a statement.
Tester appeared frustrated as he walked to his car from the Capitol on Monday hounded by a pack of reporters who peppered him with questions about how Biden’s low approval rating is affecting his own Senate race.
“We’ll just stick with the statement folks. Thank you,” he said tersely.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2-ranking member of Senate Democratic leadership, said Biden’s debate performance had “raised a lot of questions” about his ability to serve another four years in the White House.
“I watched the debate, and it raised a lot of questions. He is trying to answer those questions. In some respects, he’s done it very effectively. In other respects, not as effectively,” Durbin told reporters when asked if he has concerns about Biden’s physical or mental ability to run the country.
Not a single Senate Democrat, however, has called on Biden to drop his reelection bid, unlike the House, where several senior Democratic lawmakers told Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in a virtual meeting Sunday that the party needs to move on from Biden.
Jeffries had been more circumspect than Schumer in defending Biden, though Monday night he reiterated his support for the president, saying, “I made clear the day after the debate publicly that I support President Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket,” and that his “position has not changed.” He wants to give his rank-and-file members a full opportunity to vent their concerns about Biden’s viability as a candidate.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who would become chair of the House Armed Services Committee if Democrats recapture the House majority, on Monday joined the growing House Democratic chorus calling for Biden to step aside.
“Well, look, I think he should step aside. I think it’s become clear that he’s not the best person to carry the Democratic message,” Smith told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Smith and three other senior House Democrats, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.), told Jeffries on the private Sunday call that Biden needs to step aside, and more House Democrats are expected to do so when the entire House Democratic Caucus meets Tuesday morning.
A move by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to convene a group of Senate Democrats to talk about Biden’s future and possibly push him out of the race fizzled over the weekend. But Warner, in a statement Monday afternoon, indicated he still supported talks on how to move forward.
“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward,” he said in the statement.
He said Biden needs “to more aggressively make his case to the American people” and voiced his desire for the president “to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent” former President Trump from returning to the White House.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has emerged as one of Biden’s strongest defenders, a helpful development for the president given that Pennsylvania is a key presidential and Senate battleground state.
Fetterman and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who is running for reelection, met up with Biden on the campaign trail in Philadelphia on Sunday.
Biden got another boost Monday from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D), who represents another battleground, Nevada, which is crucial to Democrats’ chances of holding the White House and Senate.
“Joe Biden won the Democratic nomination in a landslide because he fights for working people in this country. He’s always had Nevadans’ backs, whether it’s on the picket lines, protecting our personal freedoms, or lowering costs — now it’s time for us to have his,” Cortez Masto posted on social media.
Durbin indicated that Democratic senators are having serious misgivings about Biden remaining as the likely nominee, though he declined to say how many colleagues want Biden replaced.
“I’m not going to discuss private conversations I’ve had with my colleagues,” he said.
But Durbin acknowledged that pushing Biden out of the race won’t be easy, given the president’s fierce determination to run and beat Trump.
“Knowing Joe as I do for 30 years or more, he has a charge-charging, direct, confrontational approach. He’s not backing away from it. He’s going to establish that he has the physical and mental strength to finish this campaign and win,” he said.