WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — To a proud president Joe Bidenthe Elections 2024 is up to the public — not the Democrats on Capitol Hill. But the chorus of Democratic voices calling for him to step aside is growing, from donors, strategists, lawmakers and their constituents who say he should withdraw.
The party did not rally behind him, even after the events that were part of a bombardment to revive his threatened campaign and show everyone that he was not too old to stay on or continue for another four years.
On Saturday, a fifth Democratic lawmaker openly said Biden should not run for reelection. Rep. Angie Craig from Minnesota said that after what she saw and heard in the debate with Republican rival Donald Trump, and Biden’s “lack of a forceful response” afterward, he should step aside “and make room for a new generation of leaders to step forward.”
Craig notched one of the Democrats’ most significant suburban victories in the 2018 midterms and could be a bellwether for districts that were key to Biden in 2020.
With the Democratic convention approaching And with Election Day just four months away, neither side of the party can afford this internal drama for much longer. But it will undoubtedly continue until Biden steps aside or Democrats realize he won’t and learn to curb their concerns about the president’s chances against Trump.
There were signs that party leaders realized the stalemate had to end. Some of the most prominent lawmakers, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Rep. James Clyburnwere now publicly working to bring the party back to the president. Pelosi and Clyburn both asked pointed questions about Biden after the debate.
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“Biden is the one our country needs,” Clyburn said Friday night after Biden’s interview with ABC aired.
On Saturday, Biden’s campaign said the president was participating in a biweekly meeting with all 10 of the campaign’s national co-chairs to “discuss their shared commitment to winning the 2024 race.” Clyburn was among them.
But the silence from most other House Democrats on Saturday was notable, suggesting lawmakers are not all convinced by what they saw from the president. More House Democrats are likely to call for Biden to step aside when lawmakers return to Washington early this week.
Biden had no public agenda Saturday, as he and his aides have distanced themselves from the fervor in recent days. But the president will resume campaigning in Philadelphia on Sunday, intent on putting the debate behind him. And in the coming week, the U.S. host of the NATO summit and the President will hold a press conference.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in New Orleans on Saturday, but she dodged questions about whether Biden should resign.
The president ABC interview on Friday night — billed as an attempt to get the campaign back on track — prompted carefully worded expressions of disappointment from within the party ranks, and worse from those who spoke anonymously. Ten days into the crisis moment of the Biden-Trump debate, Biden is deadlocked.
Even within the White House, there were concerns that the ABC interview would not be enough to turn the page.
Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez has been texting lawmakers and administration officials urging them not to make public their concerns about the president’s race and eligibility, according to a Democrat who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation.
Democrats are grappling with what they’re seeing and hearing from the president, but aren’t at all sure about a path forward. They were particularly concerned that Biden suggested that even if he were defeated in a rematch with Trump, he would know he had given it his all. That seemed an inadequate response.
“A lot can change in the next 72 to 96 hours, because that’s what’s happening these days,” Hawaii Gov. Mark Green said Saturday. “You know, four months is an eternity in today’s political world. I’m not worried about whether we’re going to have a good ticket if the president takes a different path.”
But Green also said he wants to “respect the president and give him time to make this decision. And if he decides to be our nominee, then he is. And we are going to go against Mr. Trump completely, because he does not represent the right values for our people.”
While Biden’s camp is encouraging House lawmakers to give the president a chance to show what he can do, a Democratic aide said Friday’s interview didn’t help and may have made matters worse. The aide said more Democrats are likely to call on Biden to step aside.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, without breaking with Biden at this point, are holding meetings with members in the coming days to discuss options. Many lawmakers are hearing from constituents at home and answering questions. One senator was working to rally others to ask him to step aside.
After the interview, one Democratic donor said many of the other donors he spoke to were furious, particularly because the president refused to acknowledge the effects of his aging. Many of those donors are seeking a leadership change at the top of the ticket, said the person, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Biden outright on Friday dismissed calls to withdraw from the race, He told voters at a rally in Wisconsin, reporters on Air Force One and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I completely rule that out,” he told reporters at the meeting.
Biden brushed aside those calling for his ouster, saying instead that he had spoken to 20 lawmakers and they all encouraged him to stay in the race.
Concerns about Biden’s fitness for another four years persist. In a poll from August 2023 by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs ResearchA whopping 77% of American adults said Biden was too old to be effective for another four years. Not only did 89% of Republicans say so, but so did 69% of Democrats. His approval rating stands at 39% in the most recent AP-NORC poll.
Biden has dismissed the polls, citing as evidence his meteoric rise to the 2020 nomination and his defeat of Trump after initially failing to win. He also cites the 2022 midterm elections, when many expected Republicans to win but they didn’t, in part because of the abortion rights issue.
“I don’t believe that,” he said when reminded that he was trailing in recent polls. “I don’t think there’s anyone better qualified to be president or to win this race than me.”
At times, Biden rambled during the interview, which ABC reported was broadcast in full and without edits. Asked how he might turn the race around, Biden argued that a key would be large, energetic rallies like the one he held Friday in Wisconsin. Reminded that Trump typically draws larger crowds, the president attacked his opponent.
“Trump is a pathological liar,” Biden said, accusing Trump of botching the federal response to the COVID pandemic and failing to create jobs. “Have you ever seen anything Trump did that benefited someone else and not him?”
However, the Republicans stand squarely behind their candidate and support Trump, who is three years old at the age of 78 younger than Biden, has grown.
And that despite Trump’s 34 convictions for crimes in hush money trialthat he was found liable for Columnist E. Jean Carroll on sexual abuse advice in 1996and that his companies turned out to be engaged in fraud.
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Miller and Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Saugatuck, Mich., Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Bill Barrow in New Orleans and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.