Joe Biden met in person with Kamala Harris on Wednesday after numerous polls showed Biden trailing Donald Trump, sparking speculation that she might have an alternative running mate to replace Biden in the race for the White House.
Biden’s private lunch with Harris at the White House came hours before he was to meet with more than 20 leading Democratic governors, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who are seen as potential successors if the president drops out of the race.
The meetings with leading Democrats came days after Biden’s disastrous debate performances sparked panic within the party about his fitness to serve as president and whether he could beat Trump in this year’s election, even as the White House and Biden’s campaign insist the president will continue to campaign.
But pressure on the president grew on Wednesday, with renewed calls from within his party for him to withdraw and opinion polls showing a sharp drop in support for the presidential candidate in recent days.
A group of moderate House Democrats focused on national security has drafted a letter urging Biden to drop out of the race, a person familiar with the effort said. Dozens of Democrats are privately considering signing a letter calling for Biden to step down, Bloomberg News first reported.
Meanwhile, Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva on Wednesday became the second member of Congress to publicly call on Biden to end his reelection bid.
“This is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” Grijalva told The New York Times. [Biden] What’s needed is responsibility, and part of that responsibility is stepping back from the competition.”
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts also issued a statement saying he had “serious concerns” about whether Biden could beat Trump.
“President Biden isn’t getting any younger,” Moulton added. “All viable options should be on the table.”
“It’s unfair and it’s unfortunate, but he has time,” said a veteran Democratic strategist. “He has to show he’s worthy of this campaign, this election, and that he can beat Donald Trump.”
A New York Times/CBS/Wall Street Journal poll conducted after the debate showed Biden’s support plummeting.
The New York Times, citing an unnamed Biden supporter, also said the president knows his campaign is now in jeopardy and that much will depend on what he says in public in the future, and CNN did the same, citing an unnamed Biden supporter.
A White House spokesman called the New York Times report “categorically false.”
The reports come after Democratic lawmakers publicly called on the president to step down on Tuesday, with several others also publicly questioning whether Biden can beat Trump in November.
But Biden told campaign staff on a conference call Wednesday afternoon that he has no plans to back down.
“I’m going to fight this campaign to the end, and we’re going to win, because if we’re a united Democratic Party, we can win,” Biden said, according to a person familiar with the call.
Harris joined the call, emphasizing her support for the president: “We will not back down. We will follow the president’s lead. We will fight, and we will win.”
Harris has struggled with low approval ratings as vice president but has recently been gaining traction among Democrats as a potential successor to Biden. Betting markets were swinging heavily in her favor on Wednesday, making her more likely to win the election than Biden.
A CNN poll conducted after the debate on Tuesday found that Biden’s approval rating had fallen to an all-time low, while Harris’ approval rating was higher than Biden’s in a hypothetical matchup with Trump.
The Trump campaign has kept a relatively low profile since the debate, with Democratic infighting dominating the headlines, but senior Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Suzi Wiles issued a statement Wednesday arguing that Trump could beat any Democrat, especially his “snickering co-pilot, Kamala Harris.”
Amid the deepening crisis within his party, Biden spoke by phone with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday night and with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday morning, according to people familiar with the lawmakers’ plans.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Wednesday that Biden also met with longtime allies Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware.
Some Democrats have warned that not only could Biden lose the White House, but it could also undermine his party’s other congressional candidates.
The president and vice president met with 24 Democratic state governors on Wednesday night, several of whom reportedly privately expressed concerns about Biden’s candidacy.
But after the meeting, the three governors came out of the White House and asserted that they had full confidence in the president.
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“Governors are endorsing Biden,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said, adding that Biden is “fit for the presidency.”
“The president continued to communicate and show us he is committed,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said, while New York Gov. Kathy Hockle added that “President Joe Biden is working to win.”
Newsom, Pritzker and Whitmer all attended the meeting in person at the White House, as did Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, but did not speak to reporters after the call, according to the White House. Other governors, including North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, participated virtually.
Additional reporting by Joshua Chaffin in New York
