President Joe Biden didn’t entirely stumble at his high-stakes NATO press conference on Thursday — but his performance and continuing defiance to stepping aside has frozen Democrats in place once again over the president’s embattled candidacy against Donald Trump.
Another senior Democrat, Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, kept the door open to Biden changing his mind, while urging an end to the unrelenting trickle of Hill Democrats opposed to his bid. Another new poll shows that Biden and Trump remain neck-and-neck — though Democratic replacements didn’t fare better. And Biden’s campaign swings through Michigan, Nevada, and Texas will keep the attention on him and any potential flubs — while a Monday interview with NBC will provide counterprogramming to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Two weeks out from a debate that upended the 2024 presidential race, Biden continues to evade a fatal number of defections from elected officials and voters concerned about his stamina and mental acuity. But in the days to come after Biden’s NATO press conference, where he demonstrated his foreign policy chops but confused his vice president with Trump, Democrats are likely to keep questioning whether this new phase of the campaign is tenable, amid growing fears of losing the White House — and Congress — in November.
Some Democrats, like Clyburn, signaled that conversations over Biden’s physical and cognitive viability should end, urging the party to focus on the president’s record and opponent.
“I am all in,” the Biden ally said Friday on NBC’s “Today Show.” “I’m riding with Biden, no matter which direction he goes, no matter what method he takes. I’m with Joe Biden.”
Yet he also said the president should be given the space to “continue to make his own decisions about his future.”
“If he decides to change his mind later on, then we will respond to that,” Clyburn said.
But others on the Hill are continuing to give Biden and his campaign a harder time, unrelieved by the NATO press conference and urging him to make up his mind quickly for the sake of the party — despite the fact that he has publicly remained insistent on staying in the race.
As of Friday morning, 17 Democrats in the House and one in the Senate have publicly called on the president to withdraw from the race, including three who issued statements in quick succession after the press conference: Reps. Jim Himes of Connecticut, Scott Peters of California and Eric Sorensen of Illinois. Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado put out a similar statement Friday morning.
Democratic lawmakers who have called for President Biden to step down
“I am hopeful President Biden will step aside in his campaign for President,” Sorensen, a first-term Democrat in a swing district, said in a statement released an hour after Biden left the NATO podium.
In a post on X Friday morning, former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain wrote, “it’s time to end the freak out and unite behind the Democratic nominee” — linking to a new NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll that shows Biden 2 points ahead of Trump in a head-to-head, which is within the poll’s margin of error.
The Marist poll, released Friday, shows Biden receiving 50 percent of the vote and Trump 48 percent — a statistical dead heat. But 64 percent of registered voters — and 38 percent of Democrats — believe Biden lacks the mental acuity to serve as president, the poll found. Forty-nine percent of respondents believed Trump was mentally unfit to serve.
Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed believe Trump will win the general election — including 24 percent of Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer all polled about as well as Biden against Trump.
Biden is still campaigning, with plans to whip through Michigan on Friday and Nevada and Texas next week as counterprogramming to the Republican National Convention. In Austin, Texas, on Monday, Biden will sit down for an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt for his second one-on-one with a major TV news anchor in as many weeks.
Biden navigated an interview last week with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos with few stumbles — though the anchor was later recorded telling someone on the street “I don’t think he can serve four more years,” TMZ first reported.
The Biden campaign hopes the travel and media appearances will quell concerns about the president’s capacity, slow the drip of defectors on the Hill and distract from the GOP convention, where thousands of Republicans will gather next week to formally nominate Trump.
But Democrats are watching closely, scared that another poor performance could occur, as Washington is immersed in rumors about which high-profile members of the party are huddling with whom.
On Thursday, former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh brushed aside speculation that he would be in the running for Harris’ vice presidential pick if she swaps in as the nominee.
“I don’t deal in hypotheticals,” Walsh told POLITICO. “[Biden] is my candidate for president. He is staying in the race for president. He plans on running and beating Donald Trump.”
But it’s an open question whether anything will be enough to salvage Biden’s damaged candidacy. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama have spoken in private about the future of the incumbent’s campaign, CNN reported.
And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Biden last night, telling lawmakers in a letter he “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together.” The GOP convention and Trump’s upcoming vice presidential selection, however, may take some of the political attention of Biden.
