Jeffries, along with other congressional leaders, has confronted Biden at key moments. during negotiations to avoid the collapse of the debt ceiling; and The remark about sending vital aid to foreign allies was made casually at a House Democrats’ caucus. But the House Speaker candidate said that House Democrats Biden believes he can defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
The meeting was disclosed in a letter Jeffries sent to House Democrats on Friday morning and comes a week after Jeffries listened intently to each faction of his diverse caucus before delivering his assessment to Biden.
“On behalf of the House Democratic Caucus, I requested, and was graciously granted, a private meeting with President Joe Biden,” Jeffries said in the letter. “In my conversation with President Biden, I directly conveyed the extensive insights, heartfelt views and conclusions about the path forward that our Caucus shared during our recent time together.”
But Jeffries offered no further details or said publicly what message he had given the president — a deliberate omission, his office said. He has previously privately voiced support for Biden but has not spoken out about House Democrats’ position.
“The letter that House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent to his House Democratic colleagues speaks for itself: It was a private conversation and will remain private,” said Christy Stevenson, Jeffries’ communications director.
But concern had been growing on Capitol Hill all week from all sides of the often volatile caucus, with even Biden’s staunchest defenders expressing doubts about his ability to win reelection. Publicly and privately, panic was spreading among politically weaker lawmakers that some believed it was inevitable that their ship would sink along with Biden in November.
Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler also told reporters Friday he would not disclose the content of private conversations, but said “leaders in the Jeffries campaign have been clear that they continue to support the president” and that he believes “they understand that the president is going to run.”
Meanwhile, Biden met virtually with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday afternoon. During the meeting, Rep. Mike Levin, a Democrat who represents a battleground district in California, called on Biden to step down “for the good of his constituents and the country” after hearing his constituents’ concerns, according to three people familiar with the call.
Biden responded by saying he understood many people had concerns about his age and why he had to prove himself to lawmakers and the public.
“That’s why I’m out there, letting people touch me, poke me, ask me questions,” Biden said, according to a person with knowledge of his remarks. “It’s a legitimate concern for people, but that’s why I think it’s important for me to go out there and show people how well I can handle myself, how knowledgeable I am, and that I’m still in control, all of that.”
Jeffries has said publicly that he supports the president. He has not aligned himself or publicly with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who said on “Morning Joe” this week that it was Biden’s “decision” whether to run again, even though the president has already made clear he will continue to campaign.
Notably, Rep. James E. Clyburn (R-South Carolina), one of the most respected House Democrats and whose support was crucial to Biden’s 2020 campaign, said on NBC’s “Today” show on Friday that he enthusiastically supports the president and urged Democrats to focus on touting the accomplishments of a Biden-Harris administration. But he notably followed Pelosi’s lead and left open the possibility of changes at the top of the shortlist.
“If he changes his mind later, we’ll be open to that,” Clyburn said. “Our convention runs until August 19th, so we want to spend our time focused right now on what kind of record we leave the American people.”
As of Friday morning, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Mr. Biden had not spoken since one call last week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Several lawmakers and aides who attended several meetings with Jeffries this week were scathing about Biden’s position, and the same concerns were echoed in those meetings and were heard not only by Jeffries but also by his top aides, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and House Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.).
In several of those meetings, Mr. Jeffries told lawmakers he was listening to their opinions and would ultimately convey them to Mr. Biden, according to two people familiar with the talk.
As of Friday afternoon, 21 House Democrats had called on Biden to drop out of the race. They cited several reasons why they believe their party leaders are too weak to beat Trump in November. A similar argument was made by Sen. Pete Welch (D-Vermont).
Of the 21, just five voiced their opposition after Biden’s closely watched Thursday night news conference, which Hill Democrats have argued all week would be a barometer of whether Biden will speak out publicly.
Only a handful of House Democrats have publicly criticized him, a relatively small number and well short of the chain of lawmakers that, as of Friday afternoon, some had privately predicted might call for Biden to step down after the NATO summit on Friday.
But the low numbers released underscore the deep concerns among far larger House Democrats that Biden and his team have no path to victory, according to several House Democrats and aides familiar with the concerns.
The anxiety reflected widespread panic that the president’s continued dominance could have a significant impact on House Democrats’ chances of regaining the majority. Mr. Jeffries had high hopes for the speakership, since Democrats only needed to pick up four more seats to regain the majority.
With the NATO summit over, Biden and his campaign are stepping up their outreach to key Democratic constituencies. Biden is scheduled to meet with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Democratic Party of the United States on Friday through Saturday afternoon.
“Is there ongoing concern? Well, we understand that. The president understands that. And that’s why we continue to engage with the folks in Congress,” Tyler said aboard Air Force One on Friday.
One thing is clear: House Democrats don’t agree on the way forward, and are divided on the extent to which they consider this moment more important than Biden. Those deeply concerned about Biden’s chances are privately saying the president must recognize that preserving democracy and keeping Trump from retaking the White House is beyond his personal ambition. Biden’s staunch supporters say Democrats must unite around Biden immediately, lest they lose sight of their goal: defeating Trump and his policies.
Jeffries and other lawmakers are analyzing recent national polls and data from their own campaigns, according to several lawmakers and aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Discuss matters on a confidential basis.
Sentiments among House Democrats have fluctuated from day to day this week and depending on their caucus’ position.
But a crucial shift occurred midweek: Support for Biden began to crumble within the CBC, a group of about 60 members that has been dubbed the “conscience of Congress” and is considered the backbone of Biden’s support. As with other lawmakers, concerns centered on pushing for staffing changes around Biden, listening more to lawmakers on how to best deliver messages to voters in their districts and making sure the president doesn’t lose support in key states.
While not all of the group’s members share the sentiment, CBC’s general support for Biden posed a challenge for Jeffries, who as a fellow CBC member has a great deal of respect for the group.
House Democrats met behind closed doors for nearly two hours on Tuesday morning in a meeting that multiple people familiar with the matter described as solemn, frank and emotional, with comments ranging from the party risking being seen as unable to govern if it didn’t stay united to expressing serious concerns about its chances of regaining the majority with Biden as its running mate.
No agreement was reached at that meeting, or by the time members left Washington on Thursday, but several lawmakers and others with knowledge of their thinking said privately that the political paralysis may not be lifted anytime soon.
The standoff continued into Friday after a news conference in which Biden said his foreign policy was fluid but also made some verbal gaffes.
One lawmaker said Democrats were paralyzed, as if they were “driving towards death,” believing it was inevitable that Biden would lose to Trump.
support Hispanic Legislative Caucus, The 42-member chamber is in a state of flux, with only Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Marie Grussenkamp Pérez (D-Wash.) and Levin in the running. They say Biden will lose if he continues to run. There is a division between those who openly support Biden, those who say they will continue to watch the president on the campaign trail before passing judgment, and those who have not publicly voiced an opinion.
Jeffries met twice this week with battleground Democrats who have been particularly tough on Biden. The meetings were heated and frank, according to people familiar with the matter. They made it clear that Biden needed to step aside, or else it would ultimately jeopardize their reelection chances and potentially block Jeffries from becoming Democratic speaker of the House.
Some have argued that a Vice President like Harris would automatically improve her political standing by immediately eliminating the age issue and helping Democrats refocus their attention on Trump.
Mr. Jeffries also met with leaders of the New Democrat Coalition, which represents about 100 pragmatic liberal and moderate Democrats and shared concern that deep divisions are weakening the party and its ability to defeat Mr. Trump. The leaders urged Mr. Jeffries to refocus the attention on Mr. Trump ahead of the Republican convention, which begins Sunday in Milwaukee.
