Biden so far has been adamant that he should continue running for reelection, amid increasingly public concerns within the party about his candidacy after his halting performance against Donald Trump in the first debate last month. Since the debate, Biden has held campaign rallies, sat for an interview with ABC News, sent a lengthy letter to congressional lawmakers, campaigned in Pennsylvania and agreed to hold a news conference Thursday, in the hopes of quelling doubts about his ability to serve a second term.
Biden and his team also have met with key party leaders — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus — who have voiced strong support for his candidacy. As of Wednesday morning, only 10 Democratic lawmakers have publicly called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race.
But Pelosi’s remarks in her television appearance Wednesday suggested that Biden had yet to make a final decision about whether to continue running. Pressed on whether she wanted him to stay in the race, Pelosi said: “I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that’s — that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with.”
Pelosi also implied that she had told Democratic lawmakers to refrain from voicing any opinions about Biden’s candidacy until after the NATO summit that Biden is hosting in Washington this week.
“Over 30 heads of state are here … it means [Biden is] orchestrating the discussion and setting the agenda, and he’s doing so magnificently,” Pelosi said. “And I’ve said to everyone — let’s just hold off whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week. But I’m very proud of the president.”
Democratic lawmakers remain divided on Biden — and have certainly not remained quiet about their opinions on the president. Late Tuesday night, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told CNN that Trump was on track to win the election “by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House” if Biden remained in the race.
“For me, this isn’t a question about polling; it’s not a question about politics. It’s a moral question about the future of our country,” Bennet said. “It’s critically important for us to come to grips with what we face, if together, we put this country on the path of electing Donald Trump again.”
Asked to respond to Bennet’s comments, Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said: “No one is more committed to defeating Donald Trump and defending our democracy than Joe Biden, and few know better than Joe Biden the importance of showing up and campaigning to earn the support of voters. This was always going to be a close race.”
CNN political commentator Kate Bedingfield, who formerly served as the communications director for Biden’s 2020 campaign and in the White House, suggested Wednesday that voters wanted to see data supporting the idea that Biden can win in November.
“I know firsthand better than almost anyone how smart the Biden team is about data and about ignoring the noise. They are right that the game here is to convince voters, not pundits,” Bedingfield wrote on X. “But when the battle over the public data is so overwhelmingly negative, it’s a good moment to put forward your theory of the case. If they have data that supports the path to victory that they see, they should put it out there now and help people who badly want to beat Trump rally around it. People want to see the path.”
Maeve Reston contributed to this report.
