Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) — who just two days ago privately called for Biden to leave the ticket — said that, while he still has concerns over the president’s candidacy, those are now “beside the point.”
“He’s going to be our nominee, and we all have to support him,” Nadler said.
A majority of House Democrats, however, dodged the media or repeated that they would not discuss the meeting. They were warned about leaking after lawmakers were struck by public reporting out of a private virtual meeting Sunday in which many members said they wanted Biden to step aside.
A person familiar with the House Democratic conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal dynamics, said the mood shifted Monday when more-liberal members of the party, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), began saying that Biden is the clear Democratic nominee and that they will work to reelect him.
“You can’t be less supportive than ‘the Squad’ is going to be,” the person said, referring to the group of progressive House Democrats who have at times clashed with the president on politics and policy.
Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), a Biden campaign surrogate, said in an interview with Washington Post Live on Tuesday that most people agree that Biden is “an underdog at this point,” but an underdog who still has a path to win the presidency.
And Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.), head of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, released a statement saying Biden is “still up to doing the job for a second term.”
“Looking ahead, it is a waste of time and potentially dangerous for Democrats to spend the next few months wringing our hands trying to find an alternative path forward. President Biden has been a very successful president: defending our reproductive rights, protecting our environment, and upholding the values of our democracy. Meanwhile, [Donald] Trump is a crazy felonious authoritarian,” she said.
Despite the vibe shift, there was still plenty of dissension in the all-member meeting, the first since Biden’s faltering debate performance less than two weeks ago sparked a panic among Hill Democrats that Biden cannot win against former president Trump in November. And Senate Democrats may have different opinions after their weekly lunches Tuesday.
Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) said House Democrats are not “even in the same book,” let alone the same page.
When asked about Cohen’s comments, and whether House Democrats can find unity, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said “unanimity is not the same as unity.”
“House Democrats bring different thoughts and ideas and viewpoints, each and every day, to this House chamber. We learn from that, we accept that,” he said. “And our focus is to be unified and we’re unified that Donald Trump cannot win. And we are unified that Hakeem Jeffries needs to be speaker to help the American public.”
He added: “Right now, President Biden is the nominee, and we support the Democratic nominee that will beat Donald Trump. That is a fact. That is where we are.”
Jeffries, meanwhile, told reporters that the Tuesday meeting gave the caucus an opportunity to “express themselves in a candid and comprehensive fashion.”
“Those discussions will continue throughout the balance of the week,” he said.
Multiple House Democratic members and aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the meeting, said there remains a pervasive feeling among House Democrats and campaign strategists that Biden’s “age issue will continue to be a huge distraction.” Democrats will be closely watching Biden as he campaigns, they said, and any misstep could quickly shift feeling among the caucus.
“They’re also worried about his decline,” a member said, referring to questions about Biden’s cognitive health after the debate. “There were people on both sides of the issue who spoke.”
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (Tex.), the first House Democrat to call for Biden to abandon the ticket, left the meeting saying his position has not changed and arguing that there are “too many people in battleground states who have not been convinced” that Biden should be the nominee.
As of Tuesday morning, a handful of House Democrats had privately or publicly called for Biden to step aside. But the president has also received some key expressions of support, including from the Congressional Black Caucus and prominent senators such as John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
House Democrats also expressed several other concerns, including worries over the logistics of changing the ticket and the possibility of Vice President Harris at the top of it instead. But members who spoke openly about the meeting also acknowledged that if Biden, and Biden alone, decides to step aside, there would be a movement to back the vice president as the nominee.
Earlier Tuesday morning, front-line House Democrats representing competitive districts met with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) to discuss the future of Biden’s bid. Of all the groups, these House Democrats may be the most worried about Biden’s electability and any potential drag on their races.
Biden sent a letter to all congressional Democrats on Monday saying he was “firmly committed to staying in this race.”
Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) have publicly defended Biden and managed to tamp down much of the dissent roiling their rank and file, some of whom worry Biden can’t beat Trump and fret about the downstream impact on recapturing the House and maintaining the Senate majority in November.
On Monday, Jeffries said his “position has not changed” in support of Biden. And Schumer succinctly told reporters Monday: “As I’ve said before, I’m for Joe.”
No sitting senator has publicly called on the president to exit the race, but some want Biden to do more to prove that he can best Trump in November.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who serves as president pro tempore of the Senate, said Monday that Biden needs to “be more forceful and energetic” to demonstrate he can campaign strongly enough to beat Trump.
“There is such a case to be prosecuted against Donald Trump — President Biden has to lead the charge in making that case,” she said. She praised Biden for leading a “historic” first term but called on him to be more vigorous in his efforts.
“We need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job,” Murray said. “At this critical time for our country, President Biden must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future.”
Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), who sought last week to organize a group of Democratic senators to ask Biden to end his campaign, made clear Monday that he remains concerned about the viability of Biden’s bid.
“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward,” Warner said in a statement. “As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House.”
Others, such as Sanders, were more steadfast in their support for Biden.
“What we’ve got to do is inject policy, the contrast between what Biden stands for and what Trump stands for, and then if you do that, I think Biden could do just fine,” Sanders told CNN on Monday night.
Meanwhile, in the House, Democrats from across the ideological spectrum — including progressives, moderates, Hispanics and Black Democrats — continued to line up behind Biden’s candidacy. Some stated over and over again that he is their party’s de facto nominee and they would work to get him over the finish line in November.
“He is the nominee,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I am focused on making sure that we win in November.”
“I think at the end of the day, he is our nominee right now, until he’s not our nominee,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “And I think we shouldn’t do Trump and Republicans’ dirty work for them.”
In the letter Biden sent to Democratic lawmakers, he said he has had “extensive conversations” with party leaders, lawmakers, rank-and-file members and voters about their “good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election.”
“I am not blind to them,” he said. “I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”
Theodoric Meyer, Abbie Cheeseman, Liz Goodwin and Leigh Ann Caldwell contributed to this report.
