Democrats had worried that Manchin, a moderate West Virginia senator who recently registered as an independent but caucuses with Democrats, would call for Biden to step down, making him the first prominent elected official allied with the party to call on Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
But he didn’t. When Democratic leaders got wind of Manchin’s plan, they started calling the independent senator, who had previously appeared on Sunday show to voice his opposition to Biden’s top agenda item, effectively killing it. Two people familiar with the process, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said an “all-out pressure campaign” was soon put into place to try to dissuade Manchin from appearing on the show.
The effort also included a weekend call with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, who discussed the matter with Manchin, according to people familiar with the matter. One person said Schumer spoke with Manchin even though he had already decided not to appear on Sunday’s show, which typically features prominent elected officials discussing the day’s news and expressing their views to the public and political establishment.
“Joe Manchin talks to many people because he wants to hear a variety of opinions and political perspectives,” Jonathan Cott, a senior political adviser to Manchin, said in a statement. “When he has something to say, you’ll hear it directly from him. Trust me, no one can stop him from speaking his mind.”
Manchin briefly tried to reach out to former President Bill Clinton to discuss the matter, but the two never connected, a source familiar with the effort said. Clinton posted a message of support for Biden on social media after the debate.
Manchin’s change of tack marks a rapid tamp down on opposition within the Democratic Party to the 81-year-old Biden remaining the nominee. The campaign and party leaders have maintained that only the president and his family can decide his political future. Party leaders have argued that it would be unwise to urge drastic action before examining post-debate polls, and Democrats have First Prominent Democratic Party Official Doing so could come at political costs.
“Nobody wants to be the first person to take a knife to Julius Caesar,” the Democratic leader said.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas on Tuesday became the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to publicly call for Biden to drop out of the race.
In a statement, Doggett praised Biden’s years of public service, saying he “has accomplished much for our country at home and abroad.” But he said it was time for Biden to step aside from the race because “too much is at stake to jeopardize a Trump victory and the risk is too great to assume that what we couldn’t turn around in a year, what we couldn’t turn around in the debates, we can turn around now.”
“President Biden saved us from President Trump in 2020 and saved our democracy,” Doggett said. “We must not hand us over to President Trump in 2024.”
Privately, many Democrats have questioned Biden’s viability as a nominee and expressed anger at his campaign. Democratic lawmakers and donors are angry that campaign aides are ignoring legitimate concerns about Biden’s fitness to act and that the campaign is trying to portray the debate as an ill-fated one-off, according to several lawmakers and supporters. With Donald Trump leading the Republican polls and pre-debate polls showing a close race, lawmakers worry Democrats could retain control of the Senate and potentially take the House of Representatives in the election.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York urged candidates in close races to wait and see how things play out over the next few days before commenting. His message to donors is to invest in the House, according to four people familiar with his remarks. Jeffries said House Democrats have the best chance of winning the November election and will act as a check on Trump.
In the debate’s aftermath, some editorial writers, Democratic strategists and donors have called for Biden to step aside and be replaced at the Democratic National Convention in August, but Biden allies have dismissively noted that no one on Capitol Hill has joined those calls and that Manchin’s departure would shatter his bubble of political protection.
“I’m not doing that, and I don’t know of anybody who is,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters on Friday when asked what she thought about people calling for Biden to step down. “Maybe some people on the outside are doing that.”
Those concerned about Biden’s ability to beat Trump say party elders such as Schumer, Jeffries and Pelosi need to go to Biden and express their concerns about the president’s team’s possible shift in positions.
But all have publicly supported Biden, and Jeffries and Pelosi have defended him in successive media appearances. “I support Joe Biden. We’ve worked hard together for four years and accomplished a lot for America and Central New York,” Schumer said at an event in Syracuse on Tuesday, according to NBC News. Schumer has not faced as much internal opposition as Jeffries, because the 81-year-old president has served in the senate for decades and maintains personal relationships with some senators.
On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Biden’s rival for the 2020 Democratic nomination, published a joint op-ed with the president outlining his efforts to lower prescription drug prices.
That even Manchin, who for months has considered running as an independent presidential candidate — a perennial thorn in the Democratic Party’s side because he fears Democrats would back Trump — has not broken with the president speaks volumes about how calls to oust Biden are being tightly contained.Unlike his Democratic colleagues, Manchin has not endorsed Biden.
But that dam could soon break if Biden’s approval rating drops significantly in the polls or if he doesn’t speak more publicly and demonstrate his ability to get the job done. Democrats in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives see their only firewall as the possibility of retaking their majority in November. Possibility While there are plenty of concerns about the Trump administration, they are also concerned that if Biden remains on top, it could diminish their chances of flipping the House, and every Democratic senator who is battling in a smattering of Republican-leaning and Republican-leaning states must defend their seat to keep the Senate in Democratic hands.
Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), a former presidential candidate in 2020, called in Newsweek magazine on Tuesday for Vice President Harris to be named as the presidential nominee instead of Biden.
“Kamala was the highlight of a historically awful night,” Ryan said of the night of the debate. “Those who had doubted her competence in years past were rebuked by a polished, confident leader communicating clearly in the midst of a political collapse of epic proportions. I had a blast watching it.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) expressed concern Tuesday morning about the impact of Biden’s candidacy in lower-district districts.
“I think he needs to be honest with himself. This is a decision he needs to make,” Quigley told CNN’s Casey Hunt. “His decision will affect not only who serves in the White House for the next four years, but who serves in the Senate, who serves in the House, and will have implications for decades to come.”
The Biden campaign has sought to stave off Democratic defections by releasing a flurry of polling and fundraising data to calm jittery donors and lawmakers. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and another senior White House official, Steve Ricchetti, have spoken with Schumer and Jeffries as part of an effort to calm things down, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private discussions.
A person familiar with the relationship said Jeffries has not yet spoken to the president.
With lawmakers away from Washington this week, many were able to avoid reporters’ questions. But they Voter concerns are especially heightened around the Fourth of July holiday, when patriotic parades are popular.
While Jeffries has publicly supported the president, he has also listened to disgruntled Democrats who believe the president’s stance could change. Jeffries and his leadership team have been listening to House Democrats who remain concerned since Biden’s strong performance at a rally in North Carolina on Friday. Several Democrats and aides said they believe House Democrats will have no choice but to call for Biden’s removal if the upcoming polls are dismal. Congressional leaders must follow suit, they said.
House Democrats across ideologies have been infuriated by the lack of outreach and direction from the Biden campaign on how to come together as a party. The vast majority of rank-and-file Democrats have not received any formal communication from the Biden campaign beyond the standard talking points and memos sent by the White House and campaign.
“The reassurance strategy, if you want to call it that, isn’t working and I think it’s making some people a little uncomfortable,” one Democratic aide said.
“The President has spoken privately with multiple officeholders in Congress and in battleground states since the debate,” Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said in a statement.
Democratic aides now receive daily memos from Louisa Terrell, a former White House legislative affairs director, who is helping the Biden campaign with talking points, polls and debates to support the case that Biden is still in position to be the nominee.
While some Democratic senators have harshly criticized Biden’s debate performance, none have suggested he should resign or that he is unfit for the job.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, said the Biden team must answer voters’ legitimate questions about whether Biden can do the job.
“We need a plan that provides reassurance to voters who have legitimate questions about whether this person they like can serve another four years in office,” Welch said.
He also warned that a poor performance by Biden would be a “severe headwind” for Democratic Senate candidates who face many tough races this fall.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat, Iowa) told a local television reporter that he was “pretty scared” by the debate.
“I think the public wants to be assured that this campaign is poised to win, that the president and his team are being honest with us about his condition, that this is not just how he’s been recently, but that this is truly an anomaly,” he added.
Tyler Pager contributed to this report.
