'I'm not leaving,' Biden says in a fundraising email
Three Democratic governors who met with President Biden Wednesday night in the wake of his terrible debate performance said they continue to back him, as the president himself said in a fundraising email Wednesday that he's "not leaving" the race.
The developments Wednesday came as speculation about Biden's future as the Democratic nominee continues to grow following last week's presidential debate.
"I'm the Democratic Party’s nominee. No one is pushing me out. I'm not leaving," the email said. "I'm in this race to the end, and WE are going to win this election."
Biden met for an hour with the Democratic governors Wednesday in an attempt to quell the growing concern over his continued candidacy.
“What we saw in there today was a guy who’s the guy all of us believed in the first time could beat Donald trump – and did beat Donald trump,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said after the meeting.
He said he believed Biden was “fit for office.”
Earlier Wednesday, Biden held a meeting with his campaign staffers and said he is staying in "this race to the end," a person on the call said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting. The meeting was one of a series of closed-door conversations he is having to try to reassure Democrats after last week’s disastrous debate led to calls for him to step down.
House Democratic leaders were holding a call Wednesday evening, a source familiar with the meeting said, as congressional Democrats weighed their options following Biden's verbal stumbles during his debate with former President Donald Trump.
House Democrats are nervous
With the fate of Congress also up in the air, some congressional Democrats were nervous about the prospect of the president remaining on the ticket.
So far, two House Democrats have called on Biden to withdraw: Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett, and Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, who gave remarks to the New York Times.
Separately, a House Democrat told NPR that Biden "seems to be continuously declining and we've still got four-five months, and folks are worried there will be a decline and if something catastrophic happens ... after the convention then Democrats are really screwed."
"There's no perfect answer," the lawmaker said. "It's tough all around."
The representative said lawmakers couldn't take a risk that Biden showed no further signs of decline. "I can't risk total catastrophe,” the member said.
Some lawmakers want Biden to stay on the ticket
The House Democrat said members were generally in two camps: those who still support Biden and those who want him to withdraw from the presidential race.
Even Biden's supporters, this member said, were upset at campaign advisers who, in their view, put Biden in that position at the debate — and urged a campaign shakeup.
"If a nominee is going to stay, you have to send a strong signal you are going to change course," this member said.
Indeed, Aaron Fritschner, a spokesman for Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said Beyer introduced Biden and spent two hours with him Tuesday night. He said Beyer described Biden's remarks as "charming, crisp and delivered without consulting a teleprompter." Beyer said Biden "was in good form," Fritschner added, adding the Virginia lawmaker said "nothing the president did or said last night” raised concerns about his age or capacity to do his job.
The House Democrat said those who want Biden to withdraw believe "it's too risky, the stakes are too high to risk that something happens to Joe Biden after the convention, in September or October," the member said.
If that happened, the member said, "We're scrambling for a nominee, and the GOP is going to sue to block us from replacing him. It gets harder after the convention."
But the lawmaker acknowledged that replacing Biden would be difficult. Even someone with clear name recognition among fellow Democrats would be a challenge.
“To lift someone's stature, to get the money, to get them vetted ... there's a sliver of folks who want to go with the devil they know rather than the devil they don't," the lawmaker said.
Biden is blaming his debate performance on jet lag
The White House has blamed the debate flub on a cold and a "bad night." On Tuesday, Biden told donors that a punishing travel schedule through many time zones was to blame. He had gone to Europe twice in two weeks in June, and also spent time at a Los Angeles fundraiser.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden spoke on Wednesday with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and has also held calls with Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons.
A Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly, said Democrats will look to House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries for their next move, but added that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina are playing a key role, adding there’s a “lot of deference to those two.”
Later Wednesday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met at the White House with 25 Democratic governors.
Eleven of the governors were attending in person, including governors seen as potential future presidential candidates like California’s Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, Maryland’s Wes Moore and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer. Other governors attended by Zoom.
Minnesota's Walz acknowledged Biden's debate performance was "bad," but added: "it doesn’t impact what I believe: He’s delivered.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore called the conversation with Biden “candid” and “honest.”
“We were honest about the feedback we were getting. We were honest about the concerns we were hearing from people,” he said. “And we’re all honest about the fact that as the president continued to tell us and show us that he was all in that we said that we’d stand with him.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York echoed their remarks.
“President Joe Biden is in it to win it. And all of us said we pledged our support to him because the stakes could not be higher,” she said.
He will have a stream of events in coming days, including a trip to Wisconsin
Biden spent last weekend trying to persuade supporters that he could still do the job and a rally and fundraising events.
This week, he has a steady stream of events that will provide the public additional insight into whether the president can move past the headlines surrounding his debate performance.
He plans to celebrate the Fourth of July with service members and their family on the National Mall. On Friday, he will campaign in Wisconsin and give an interview to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. And next week, he hosts NATO leaders in Washington, where he will give a solo press conference.
Transcript
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
President Biden's been working the phones the last couple of days, talking to congressional leaders, campaign staff and trying to quell concerns about his campaign after the debate last week. More than 20 Democratic governors are also meeting with Biden later this evening. All this outreach didn't begin until several days after he struggled to get his points across during that debate with former President Donald Trump. In the meantime, the worries over keeping Biden at the top of the ticket keep growing. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is covering this. Hi, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey.
SHAPIRO: Lots of calls, lots of meetings - walk us through what has been happening at the White House today.
SHIVARAM: Yeah, I mean, today alone, Biden spoke with some congressional leaders. He and Vice President Harris joined campaign staff on a call to try and lift morale. And on that call, Biden said he would stay in the race. Biden's chief of staff at the White House, Jeff Zients, spoke with White House staff today, telling them to keep their heads up and keep doing the work. All of these calls and meetings, Ari, come after Biden's debate last Thursday where he struggled to make his case. His sentences trailed off. He wasn't very clear. Polling has long shown that Americans are concerned about Biden's age and his candidacy for another term.
And I'll note that later, you know, Biden is meeting with Democratic governors, many of whom are flying into Washington to attend this meeting at the White House in person. And that includes some governors like California's Gavin Newsom and Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, who have backed Biden publicly and consistently. But they are also some of the leaders who are much younger than Biden who some of the Democratic Party are now saying could be a replacement for the president.
SHAPIRO: So what is Biden's message? How is he trying to assuage these concerns?
SHIVARAM: Well, these calls with, you know, Democrats - like majority leader Chuck Schumer, Congressman Jim Clyburn, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all of those folks - I mean, the White House has kept those calls private. They haven't said what was discussed, but they said that they were, quote, "strong conversations." But publicly, Biden has commented a bit further on his debate night. The president held a fundraiser last night where he said that all the travel from his international trips leading up to the debate tired him out.
He was in France, in Italy in the weeks before the debate took place. I was on the second half of that at the G7 in Italy with him. I will note, you know, we got back to the Eastern time zone about 11 days before he got on the debate stage. But here's White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in the briefing room today talking about the president's schedule and his health before the debate.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: In addition to the two major trips, he was also - continued to do his presidential duties. He worked late in doing that, and he also prepared for the debate. And on top of that, there was obviously the jet lag, as you just asked about, and also he had a cold.
SHIVARAM: So the White House continues to characterize the president's debate performance as a, quote, "bad night."
SHAPIRO: They seem a little late to respond to all of this pushback. The debate was close to a week ago. Why has it taken so many days?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, I mean, Biden and the White House have been saying this. He kind of responded to some of that criticism on the day after the debate when he was in North Carolina. But these calls to Democratic leaders, that's really what's been delayed here. And it's a good question, Ari. I mean, the White House has said there's some communication between Biden's team and some of these congressional offices. They said the president has been really busy - he was on the road.
But it has been nearly a week since the debate and there hasn't been much of an explanation for why it took so long for Biden to pick up the phone. You know, we heard on Morning Edition today from a Democrat in the House, Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who said that Biden shouldn't be the nominee. And there are a couple others in the House who have said that they now think Trump is going to win.
And I will say, my NPR colleague Deirdre Walsh has learned now that House Democratic leaders are gathering for a call themselves this evening. And in the meantime, you know, other Democrats have said that they want to see Biden out interacting with voters more, which I will say he will be doing later this week in Wisconsin, where he'll also be doing an interview with ABC News, which is one of the first times we'll see Biden unscripted since the debate.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Deepa Shivaram at the White House. Thanks.
SHIVARAM: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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