WILMINGTON, Del. — To a defiant President Joe Biden, the 2024 election 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, with more donors, strategists, lawmakers and their constituents saying he should bow out.
The party has not fallen in line behind him even after events set up as part of a blitz to reset his imperiled campaign and show everyone he wasn’t too old to stay in the job or to do it another four years.
On Saturday, a fifth Democratic lawmaker said openly that Biden should not run again. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota said that after what she saw and heard in the debate with Republican rival Donald Trump on June 27, and Biden’s “lack of a forceful response” afterward, he should step aside “and allow for a new generation of leaders to step forward.”
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With the Democratic convention approaching and just four months to Election Day, neither camp in the party can afford this internecine drama much longer. But it is bound to drag on until Biden steps aside or Democrats realize he won’t.
There were signs party leaders realize the standoff needs to end. Some of the most senior lawmakers, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi of California and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, started publicly working to bring the party back to the president. Both raised pointed questions about Biden after the debate.
“Biden is who our country needs,” Clyburn said late Friday after Biden’s interview with ABC aired.
On Saturday, Biden’s campaign said the president joined a biweekly meeting with all 10 of the campaign’s nation 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 being 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 at the start of the week.
Biden had no public events scheduled Saturday but planned to campaign again Sunday in Philadelphia, intent on putting the debate behind him. And this coming week, the U.S. will host a NATO summit and the president is to hold a news conference.
Vice President Kamala Harris planned to campaign Saturday in New Orleans.
The president’s ABC interview Friday night — billed as an effort to get the campaign back on track — stirred carefully worded expressions of disappointment from the party’s ranks, and worse from those who spoke anonymously.
Following the interview, a Democratic donor reported many of the fellow donors he spoke with were furious, particularly because the president declined to acknowledge the effects of his aging. Many of those donors are seeking a change in leadership at the top of the ticket, said the person, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
