WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is looking to a key political firewall: leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus to stave off Democratic defections and salvage his faltering reelection campaign.
On Monday, after a wave of Democratic lawmakers called on the president to step down as the party’s nominee, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) reiterated his support for Biden following his disastrous defeat in last month’s debate with former President Donald Trump. Horsford’s public support is strong given the tough battle he faces in the presidential election this fall.
“President Joe Biden is the nominee, elected by millions of voters across the country, including voters here in Nevada,” Horsford said in a statement posted to social media, adding that Nevadans are “interested in a thriving and fair economy, in taking on big corporations and cutting costs, and in protecting our hard-won freedoms, rights and opportunities.”
“They know that President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting for them. Like me, they don’t want to see Donald Trump back in the White House and are ready to work and vote to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Horsford continued. “We’re not going backwards, we’re going forward.”
CBC is planning to hold a virtual meeting with Biden on Monday evening, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans.
Black voters have been key to Biden’s coalition. In the 2020 Democratic primary, black voters in South Carolina resurrected Biden’s campaign and propelled him to the presidency. Biden chose the first black woman as vice president and nominated the first black woman to the Supreme Court. And now, maintaining the support of black lawmakers may again be key to the president’s political future.
In a private call between Democratic committee leaders on Sunday, four senior Democratic Party officials urged Biden to drop out of the race, with several other senior Democrats also expressing concern about Biden’s ability to beat Trump in November.
But on the same call, two former female chairpersons of the CBC, Reps. Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, D-Calif., “forcefully” defended Biden, according to two sources familiar with their remarks.
Additionally, another CBC member who did not participate in Sunday’s call, Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson, issued a statement supporting Biden and slamming his critics, saying, “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump in 2020 and will win again as the Democratic nominee this year. Any ‘leader’ who calls for President Biden’s removal needs to get their priorities straight and stop disparaging this incredible, genuine leader who has delivered real results for our country.”
“What Democrats need to do is stop listening to these political pundits and focus on what’s at stake in this election – our democracy,” Wilson continued. “That’s the end of it. I support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and so should all Americans.”
Two sources said the CBC is largely supportive of Biden, but there are “small rifts” within the powerful group and not all of its members have publicly voiced their support for Biden.
“Most members of the Congressional Black Caucus are institutionalists,” a senior aide to a CBC member told NBC News.
“It’s hard to imagine that many of them would oppose a sitting president who has passed many important bills that benefit the black community and who has ties to President Obama.”
“They’re all doubling down,” said Cedric Richmond, a former Democratic congressman from Louisiana who was a member of the CBC when he was in Congress and is now a co-chair of the Biden campaign. “They don’t care about a recession. They’ve been through a recession, and they know they can power through it.”
The Biden campaign did not immediately comment on the matter.
CBC members have also pushed back against criticism of aging politicians and have generally supported the Democratic seniority system that gives the longest-serving lawmakers the coveted committee gavel. Black lawmakers currently serve as the top Democrats on five House committees.
In 2020, then-Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, one of Washington’s most influential Black leaders, was credited with reviving Biden’s presidential campaign, which had been thought to be dead, by rallying the Black community in support of Biden ahead of the South Carolina primary. Biden won a crowded Democratic primary that year and later ousted Trump from the White House.
But in recent days, Clyburn has not fully endorsed Biden. After Biden stumbled during the June 27 debate, he said on MSNBC that he would strongly support former CBC member Harris if Biden were to step down. He also appeared on CNN to suggest the party could hold a “mini-primary” before next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said after the debate that Biden should continue his campaign, but the highest-ranking Black lawmaker has spent the past week gathering input from party leaders and rank-and-file members before the House returns to Washington on Monday.
Biden appeared on two black radio shows in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania last week in an attempt to shore up support in the black community and address criticism that he is unfit for the presidency. But the president found himself embroiled in a new controversy after the two radio hosts acknowledged that Biden aides had prepared questions for him in advance.
Still, it’s notable that among the five House Democrats who have publicly called on Biden to step down – Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Mike Quigley of Illinois and Angie Craig of Minnesota – there are no black members.
Also, none of the four Democratic committee leaders who urged Biden to drop out of the race in a conference call on Sunday – Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York, Adam Smith of Washington, Mark Takano of California and Joe Morrell of New York – are Black.
“The president has done a great job. I think the only reason we’re having this conversation is because of one terrible debate. That’s the way the president is. The president has had one terrible debate,” Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee who took part in Sunday’s call, said during an appearance on MSNBC on Monday.
Meeks, the CBC member, said he hasn’t spoken to Biden since the debate but spent time with him in Normandy, France last month and heard his “great speech.”
“The president has and will continue to lead the way. The leadership he has shown has brought the world, the democratic world, closer together and made all of us safer than we would have been if we had gone it alone,” Meeks continued. “What authoritarians want is for us to be divided. Joe Biden’s leadership has prevented that from happening.”
One House Democrat and key Biden ally said Monday he believes Biden can weather the storm, especially with the strong support of the CBC and other leading Democrats such as Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee.
“People are underestimating the strong support the president has from senior members like Richie Neal and many of the most respected CBC members,” the Biden ally said.
