“I have complete confidence that Joe Biden will do the patriotic thing for our country,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Wednesday when asked by reporters if he thought Biden should step down. “He will make that decision. He’s never let me down. He’s always put patriotism and country before himself. I’ll respect his decision.”
While this nuanced rhetoric may be a bit removed from current realities, it avoids a direct confrontation with a president who is fixated on his candidacy and reportedly irritated by constant questioning from his own party. It also leaves room for lawmakers to increase pressure going forward, sending a message that they are fully open to making a different decision than Biden.
The most prominent House Democrat to frame the issue this way is undoubtedly former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who praised Biden in a television interview on Wednesday but urged the president to decide quickly whether he still wants to run.
“Time is running out and we’re all urging him to make that decision,” Pelosi said.
But the strategy, which ignores Biden’s own public stance on the campaign, runs the risk of being perceived as condescending by some.
“This is starting to feel like turning in a paper, getting it back from your teacher and being told to rewrite it and turn it in again,” Democratic strategist Rebecca Katz joked on X.
But it could be a way to gently encourage a change of heart. Some lawmakers believe Biden when he says he’s committed to running, but hope a series of dismal polls might change his mind. On Wednesday, Cook Political Report analyst David Wasserman called Trump’s post-debate poll lead “the most dramatic shift in this year’s race.”
Asked about lawmakers’ assertion that Biden needs to “decide” whether to run, a Biden campaign official pointed to a letter he sent to lawmakers on Monday in which Biden declared, “I am firmly committed to remaining in this race, fighting to the end, and defeating Donald Trump.”
Biden added that it was time to “end” discussions about a different way forward.In the MSNBC interview, he dismissed “elites” who questioned his ability to campaign, saying they weren’t listening to ordinary voters, comments that infuriated many lawmakers, said two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Neither Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) joined the argument that Biden needs to make a “decision.”
“As I have repeatedly made clear both publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to defeating Donald Trump in November,” Schumer said in a statement Wednesday night.
The careful comments show lawmakers are walking a tightrope trying to send a message to Biden without permanently alienating him if he continues on the campaign trail, and without further hurting Democrats’ electoral chances by spreading more negative perceptions of him.
So far, only Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont has called on Biden to step aside. But several more privately expressed concern in a closed-door meeting Tuesday that Biden would not win the presidential election in November, according to two people briefed on the gathering. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) later publicly voiced his concerns on CNN, saying Democrats could win a “landslide victory” if Biden came out on top, but stopped short of calling for him to drop out of the race.
Sen. Chris Coons (Delaware), Biden’s campaign co-chair, downplayed the significance of Bennet’s comments.
“I respect my dear friend Michael Bennet, but I don’t agree with his views,” he said. “There are 51 senators who meet with Democrats, and I’m sure that now that Michael has spoken out, there are a dozen or so who say they agree? I don’t think so.”
Some lawmakers, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), are adamant that Biden is the best leader to lead the presidential race and beat Trump. “He’s on our side,” Fetterman told reporters this week. But many, while divided on the right path forward, deeply worry they are headed for defeat.
On Thursday, senior Biden campaign officials Mike Donilon, Jen O’Malley Dillon and Steve Ricchetti are scheduled to brief Senate Democrats at a luncheon with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
In the meantime, lawmakers are urging Biden to make a decision, even if he claims he has already made one.
“I think he’s the type of guy who, at the end of the day, is concerned with what’s best for the country, not with himself,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.
When asked by a reporter if continuing to run was the best decision for Biden, he replied, “I think the best thing would be to win.”
Mariana Alfaro and Paul Kane contributed to this report.
