Obama privately expresses concerns to Democrats
Former President Barack Obama has privately expressed concerns to Democrats about President Joe Biden’s candidacy, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi privately warned Mr. Biden that Democrats could lose the ability to seize control in the House if he didn’t step away from the race.
Ms. Pelosi also showed Mr. Biden polling that he likely can’t defeat Republican Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss it.
Time racing, Democrats at the highest levels are making a critical push for Mr. Biden to reconsider his reelection bid, as unease grows at the White House and within the campaign at a fraught moment for the president and his party.
Mr. Biden has insisted he is not backing down, adamant that he is the candidate who beat Trump before and will do it again this year. Pressed about reports that Mr. Biden might be softening to the idea of leaving the race, his deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said on July 18: “He is not wavering on anything.”
In recent days the President has become more committed to staying in the race, according to another person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it.
But influential Democrats from the highest levels 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 Mr. Biden will assess the trajectory of the race and his legacy during this few days’ pause.
Using mountains of data showing Mr. Biden’s standing could wipe out the ranks of Democrats in Congress, frank conversations in public and private, and now, the President’s own time off the campaign trail after testing positive for COVID-19, many Democrats see an opportunity to encourage a reassessment.
Time is of the essence. If Democrats are seriously preparing the extraordinary step of replacing Mr. Biden and shifting Vice-President Kamala Harris at 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, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Jeffries, both of New York, have spoken privately to the President, candidly laying out the views of Democrats on Capitol Hill, including Democrats’ concerns.
Separately, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Representative Suzan DelBene of Washington, spoke with the President last week armed with fresh data. The campaign chief specifically aired the concerns of frontline Democrats who are seeking election to the House.
And on July 17, California Representative Adam Schiff, a close ally of Ms. Pelosi, became the highest-profile House Democrat to call for Mr. Biden to drop his reelection bid, saying that while the decision is Mr. Biden’s alone to make, he believes it’s time to “pass the torch”. Mr. 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 it’s still early and that many people don’t focus on the election until September.
“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 of the interview released on July 18 morning.
Some national polls do show a close race, though others suggest Trump with a lead. And some State polls have contained warning signs too, including a recent New York Times/Siena poll that suggested a competitive race in Virginia.
While the tensions over Mr. Biden’s ability to carry on a winning campaign subsided some, particularly after the Trump assassination attempt and as the Republican National Convention was under way in Milwaukee, Democrats know they have limited time to resolve the party turmoil after the President’s faltering debate performance last month.