Biden has made only three public appearances since Friday’s rally in North Carolina — to talk about the Supreme Court ruling, the extreme weather and at Stonewall National Monument in New York, where he spoke for a total of 22 minutes using only a teleprompter — and also appeared at a series of fundraisers and campaign events over the weekend.
One senior campaign adviser called it a “deafening silence,” echoing the concerns of other advisers who say the president’s public failure to perform his job has spread panic within the party.Other longtime Biden allies, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, described ongoing frustration with the political response and a growing belief that change is needed.
Biden spent much of Wednesday trying to allay concerns by calling congressional leaders who had not contacted him, speaking to his campaign staff and giving an interview to a Black radio station ahead of a planned meeting with Democratic governors.
“The last few days have been difficult. I know you’ve been getting a lot of calls, I know you have a lot of questions,” Biden told campaign staff on a conference call, according to a person familiar with the remarks. “Let me say this as clearly as I can, as simply as I can, as bluntly as I can: I am running. I am the Democratic nominee. Nobody is trying to get rid of me. I am not leaving the party. I am going to fight this race to the end, and we will win, because when the Democratic Party comes together, we win.”
Vice President Harris, who was on the call, added, “We will not back down. We will follow the president’s direction. We will fight, and we will win.”
Speaking to reporters later, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden had “absolutely no plans” to withdraw from the presidential race.
Even those who still maintain Biden is the front-runner acknowledge he has lost support in recent days, but remain hopeful that poll numbers will stabilize over the next week. Some Democrats have begun openly considering Harris as a possible alternative to Biden as the nominee to face Republican Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.
“Among the elected representatives, [officials] “The winners and donors don’t represent the majority of the swing votes in battleground states,” said Dmitri Melhorn, a donor adviser who is working with outside groups to help Biden win.
The Biden campaign had insisted on a debate with Trump in June to address voter apathy and concerns about Biden’s age, but Biden’s stuttering performance raised alarm within the party and heightened public concerns about his competence as measured by polls.
Biden’s personal contacts with lawmakers have also been minimal since the debate, with party leaders expressing surprise. Biden waited until Tuesday to meet with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and until Wednesday morning to meet with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. His Wednesday afternoon meetings with Democratic governors were scheduled at the request of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Some House Democrats continued to debate on Wednesday whether they should ask Biden to resign, with drafts of open letters circulating. Two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Grusenkamp Perez of Washington, publicly said Tuesday that Biden can no longer win, while Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas said Biden should be replaced as the party’s presidential nominee.
In text messages Wednesday morning, the House members shared a new YouGov poll that showed Biden trailing Trump by two points. Another poll shared in the text messages showed former first lady Michelle Obama beating Trump by 10 points.
The anxious lawmakers didn’t place any value on the numbers but were astonished by how “it shows how much of a chance we have of beating Trump and how much of a hold it has been made by Biden,” said one lawmaker who took part in the text messages.
Rep. James E. Clyburn of Colorado, one of Biden’s closest allies in the House, said Wednesday morning that he had not yet spoken to the president. A spokesman said the two had been in touch earlier in the day.
“I think the president should hold some town hall-style meetings and engage with constituents and the media,” Clyburn said. “I don’t think he should be responding to voters’ questions through a filter. I think he should be allowed to answer voters’ questions unfiltered and let the media report them.”
Democrats involved in the House and Senate races say a lot will depend on whether Biden’s approval rating continues to drop in the coming days and how that affects the Democratic candidates. There are some signs that Republicans are trying to exploit Biden’s poor performance in the debate. Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kali Lake plans to air an ad statewide criticizing Democratic candidate Ruben Gallego for Biden’s drop in approval ratings, a person familiar with the ad plans said.
Biden’s advisers pointed to upcoming events that could begin to address those concerns, including campaign trips to Wisconsin on Friday and Pennsylvania on Sunday. Biden is scheduled to do an interview with ABC News on Friday.
Both the campaign and the White House are hoping events over the next few days after Independence Day will reassure voters and party officials, and they point to the lack of calls from senior Democratic Party officials for Trump to resign.
The early damage control after Thursday’s debate and subsequent rally in North Carolina was conducted almost entirely by staff. Those private calls, video conferences and other presentations focused primarily on other aspects of the campaign and offered no opportunity for questions, or only selected questions. Senior campaign staff wrote multiple memos and emails to staff, donors and supporters urging calm and redoubled efforts.
“The president and his team have been through the greatest joys and the worst sorrows, and will continue to be,” White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said in a White House conference call. “The only way we get through this is working together as a team.” He declined to answer questions.
The positive stories about fundraising numbers and grassroots mobilization fail to address a central concern that Biden himself is not fit for the job, say several senior strategists who recently decided that either Biden must prove himself or Democrats need a new nominee. Allies also point out that the focus on internal campaign polling and analysis showing the race is stable and Biden trailing Trump slightly fails to address questions about how the debate performance affected Biden’s ability to overtake Trump before the race ends.
Top Biden advisers have long argued that enough voters will ultimately choose to oppose Trump, but that assertion has no clear empirical basis beyond polls that show a majority of the public would, in theory, support Biden, people familiar with the matter said. The Biden campaign has also been hit by outside polls that show Biden’s already sluggish approval rating falling further against Trump and third-party candidates.
“The message that ‘the polls haven’t changed’ is not enough,” said one veteran Democratic presidential campaign official, echoing the sentiments of several other strategists. “The fundamental problem is that it’s not just about debate performance. The shaky confidence people had is now gone. It’s not enough to give two four-minute statements at rallies and fundraisers, reading off a teleprompter.”
Meanwhile, the big donor community is overwhelmingly against Biden, people familiar with the matter said. It’s unclear whether that will have a significant impact on fundraising if Biden continues to run. In several cases, donor advisers said large, expected contributions to outside groups have been withheld since the debate.
Liberal donor networks including Democracy Alliance, American Bridge and Strategic Victory Fund have held conference calls in recent days in which donors expressed concerns about the race moving forward, but none of the calls led to a formal request for Biden to drop out of the race. Officials at one independent group have begun reviewing polling to see how planned advertising would fare if Biden doesn’t become the nominee.
Donors said Biden’s performance at the debate mirrored his performance in small groups at donor events in recent months, where he appeared to stumble and struggle to communicate — a perception that has strengthened calls for him to resign, people familiar with the conversations said.
One business executive who helped organize a fundraiser for last year’s Chicago convention said the Biden campaign refused to ask even small groups of big donors questions, which this person said was shocking.
“I told them my donors don’t care about photos, they want to speak to the president. The Biden campaign just wouldn’t allow it,” the source said. “It was clear they were manipulating the president in a way he’d never done before: If they’re going to write a big check and hold an event with the president, donors are going to expect to speak to him.”
Several major donors said in a call with Pelosi and Schumer on Tuesday that the status quo is not sustainable and that a new candidate is needed, according to people familiar with the matter. Spokespeople for Pelosi and Schumer declined to comment.
At a fundraiser in McLean on Tuesday night, Biden was in high spirits and spoke at a donor event without a teleprompter for the first time since the debate. He downplayed his struggles in the debate, saying, “I know I didn’t perform at my best on debate night,” and suggesting jet lag was to blame. Biden returned to the US from meetings in Europe 12 days before the debate.
Biden has boasted about his strong fundraising since the debate, saying, “So far so good.”
Biden’s family has urged him to continue the campaign, adamant that he has a strategy and denied suggestions he would consider stepping down, four people close to the family said. “The family remains fully committed,” said one family member, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They still support Biden.”
The people said they acknowledged the tough debate and the volatile situation, but that Trump will likely remain the party’s nominee unless senior officials like Pelosi or Schumer defect or he suffers a major drop in polling numbers. They also said that despite repeated doubts about Trump, he has frequently noted that he has exceeded expectations, and that sentiment is still swirling among many families.
Josh Dorsey, Liz Goodwin, Paul Kane and Yvonne Winget-Sanchez contributed to this report.
