WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s The moribund reelection campaign began Wednesday with the deaths of Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi The celebrity donor said only that “it’s up to the president to decide” whether to continue the campaign. George Clooney He said he shouldn’t run, and Democratic senators and representatives expressed new concerns about their ability to beat Republicans. Donald Trump.
Despite Biden’s comments, there were a series of sudden and significant statements. A firm assertion His refusal to step down for the 2024 presidential election would be a public display of how unresolved the issue is among leading Democrats. On Capitol Hill, Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, the No. 8 Democrat in the House of Representatives, has publicly called on Biden to step down.
“I want him to make whatever decision he wants,” Pelosi said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” without explicitly saying Biden should stay in. Biden has repeatedly said he has made a decision, but she said, “time is running out and we’re all urging him to make a decision.”
Democrats are considering the once-unthinkable – that the incumbent Biden would step down just weeks before the Democratic National Convention, where he is preparing to vie for the presidential nomination – a pivotal moment for the president and his party. Re-election.
Biden Hosting World Leaders In Washington this week for the NATO summit, Mr. Biden has a packed schedule of official meetings, chitchat at side events and marathon diplomatic dinners to show off his skills. His party is at a crossroads, facing its next national test at a news conference scheduled for Thursday, when many Democrats in Congress will be closely watching for signs of his abilities.
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To be sure, Biden maintains strong support from key parts of his coalition, particularly the Congressional Black Caucus, whose leadership played a key role in leading the president to victory in 2020 and has endorsed him as the country’s best choice to defeat Trump again in 2024.
“The stakes are too high at this point and we need to stay focused,” Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota told The Associated Press on Tuesday, saying the longer the fight over Biden continues, the more “loser” Democrats are. “Our democracy is on the line. Everything we hold dear as Democrats and as a country is on the line and we need to stop being distracted.”
Pelosi’s remarks have been widely seen as a signal of how Democratic leaders feel about Biden’s policies. The injured candidateHer comments are seen as crucial as party members decide the direction of the party. motion Against Trump.
Pelosi’s powerful position as a former House speaker and her proximity to Biden as a longtime and trusted ally of her generation means she is seen as one of the few Democratic leaders who could influence the president’s thinking.
Lawmakers will hear most clearly that Speaker Pelosi did not issue a full statement endorsing Biden’s continued campaign. She later told ABC she believed Biden could win. Her comments came after actor Clooney, who had just hosted the glitzy event, said he was “very confident” that Biden could win. Hollywood fundraiser Last month, the president He said in an op-ed in the New York Times The Biden we saw three weeks ago was not the Joe Biden of 2020. “He was the same person we all saw in the debates.”
Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet spoke forcefully late Tuesday about the dangers of Trump’s reelection, saying it’s “the president’s role to explore” the options.
Bennet stopped short of calling for Biden to step down, but told CNN he has privately told colleagues that he believes Trump is “on track to win this election, probably in a landslide victory and take control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.”
“This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue about the future of our country,” Bennett said.
Another Democrat, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, said Wednesday he was “deeply concerned” about Biden’s election victory, which he said was an existential issue for the country.
“We need to reach a decision as quickly as possible,” Blumenthal told CNN.
“I have complete confidence that Joe Biden will do the patriotic thing for our country, and he will make that decision,” Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told reporters.
Democrats have been wavering over whether to continue to support Biden following his poor performance in the June 27 presidential debate with Trump and his campaign’s lackluster response to Democratic calls for the 81-year-old Biden to show voters he can handle another four years in office.
Biden and his campaign have been working harder to shore up support, and the president Meeting with trade union leaders On Wednesday, he leaned on the union to argue that his record in office is more important than his age.
Speaking at a meeting of the executive committee of the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor union federation, Biden told an audience that even Wall Street recognizes the power of labor unions, and reiterated his vision of an economy built “bottom up, middle out.”
“I said I would be the most pro-union president in American history,” Biden told a cheering crowd. “And guess what? I am.”
Many House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to drop his candidacy, but no Senate Democrats have gone that far. Bennet was one of three Democratic senators, including Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, to make the remarks at a private luncheon on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The president’s team will send Biden senior advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, along with Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, to meet privately with Democratic senators on Thursday for a caucus lunch, according to Senate leadership aides and the Biden campaign.
But there were concerns that it could backfire. One Democratic senator, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting, said it could be a waste of time if Biden doesn’t make the case to senators himself.
Representative Pelosi of California said Biden “has been a great president” and was loved and respected by House Democrats.
The California resident said she watched Trump deliver a powerful speech at the NATO summit on Tuesday, recounting his many accomplishments.
With foreign leaders visiting Washington this week and Biden hosting events on the world stage at a critical moment for diplomacy, Pelosi urged Democrats to “hold back” on any announcements about her campaign.
“Tell someone privately what you’re thinking, but don’t bring it out until we know what’s going to happen this week,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Farnoosh Amiri and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
