Despite a week of campaign stops, interviews and insistence that he is the best candidate to confront Republican Donald Trump, US President Joe Biden has done little to soften the push for him to exit the 2024 race.
Biden has weighty options before him this weekend that could set the direction of the country and his party as the nation heads toward the November election with an energised GOP after the Republican nominating convention to send Trump back to the White House.
Almost 35 Democrats in Congress say it’s time for Biden to quit the race — 12 coming forward on Friday alone — with more lawmakers expected to speak out in the days ahead. Donors have raised concerns. And an organisation calling on Biden to “Pass the Torch” planned a rally on Saturday (Sunday AEST) at the White House.
“There is no joy in the recognition he should not be our nominee in November,” said Democratic Representative Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, one of the Democrats urging his exit from the race.
“But the stakes of this election are too high and we can’t risk the focus of the campaign being anything other than Donald Trump.”
The standoff has become increasingly untenable for the party and its leaders, a month from the Democratic National Convention that should be a unifying moment to nominate their incumbent president to confront Trump. Instead the party is at a crossroads unseen in generations.
It’s creating a stark juxtaposition with Republicans who, after years of bitter and chaotic infighting over Trump, have essentially embraced the former president’s far-right takeover of the GOP, despite his criminal conviction in the hush money case and pending federal criminal indictment for trying to overturn the 2020 election before the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
From his beach home in Delaware, Biden, 81, is isolating with a COVID-19 infection, but also politically with a small circle of family and close advisers. White House doctor Kevin O’Connor said on Friday that the president still had a dry cough and hoarseness, but his COVID-19 symptoms had improved.
The president’s team insisted he’s ready to return to the campaign this coming week to counter what he called a “dark vision” laid out by Trump.
“Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box,” Biden said in a statement on Friday (Saturday AEST).
“The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”
But outside the Rehoboth enclave the debate and passions are intensifying.
A donor call with some 300 people Friday was described as a waste of time by one participant, who was granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation. While the person was complimentary of Vice President Kamala Harris, who spoke for five minutes, the rest of the time was filled by others who brushed aside donor concerns, according to the participant.
Not only are the Democrats split over whether Biden should stay in the race or step aside, they also lack consensus about how to choose a successor.
Trump takes the stage alongside uniform of fallen firefighter
Democrats who are agitating for Biden to leave do not appear to have coalesced around a plan for what would happen next, for now. Very few of the lawmakers have mentioned Harris in their statements, and some have said they favour an open nominating process that would throw the party’s endorsement behind a new candidate.
Democratic senators Jon Tester of Montana and Peter Welch of Vermont have both called for Biden to exit the race and said they would favour an open nominating process at the convention.
“Having it be open would strengthen whoever is the ultimate nominee,” Welch said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Other Democrats say it would be politically unthinkable to move past Harris, the nation’s first woman vice president, who is Black and South-East Asian, and logistically unworkable with a virtual nominating vote being planned for early next month, before the August 19 Democratic convention in Chicago.
Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum, who is among those who called on Biden to step aside, explicitly endorsed Harris as a replacement.
“To give Democrats a strong, viable path to winning the White House, I am calling upon President Biden to release his delegates and empower Vice President Harris to step forward to become the Democratic nominee for President,” McCollum said in her statement.
It’s unclear what else, if anything, the president could do to reverse course and win back lawmakers and Democratic voters, who are wary of his ability to beat back Trump and serve another term after his halting debate performance last month.
At the same time, a majority of Democrats believe Kamala Harris would do a good job in the top slot, according to a separate AP-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research poll.
The president did conduct a round of virtual conversations with various caucuses in the past week — some of which ended poorly.
During a call with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, one Democrat, Representative Mike Levin of California, told Biden he should step aside. During another with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Biden became defensive when Representatie Jared Huffman of California asked him to consider meeting with top party leaders about the path forward.
Huffman was among a group of four Democratic lawmakers who called on Friday for Biden to end his reelection bid.
At the same time, Biden still has strong backers. He picked up support Friday from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ campaign arm and has backing from leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
