Five people to watch as Joe Biden considers dropping out of the race

The president is, in every sense of the word, Jill Biden’s husband. Like many modern first ladies, Jill Biden is described as one of the most influential voices in the White House.

“There is little doubt among those who know Jill Biden that her top priority is keeping her husband and family safe from harm,” journalist Katie Rogers wrote in her book about modern first ladies.

Since the debate fiasco, the first lady has made it clear that she continues to support Biden as he continues his campaign.

Over the years, Biden has been described as a tough man who has spent decades shaking hands in Washington. She has also often been cast as the family’s grudge keeper, as she was during a heated Democratic presidential primary debate when Vice President Kamala Harris had to convince Biden that she hadn’t crossed a line by criticizing his past comments on race.

After Dr. Biden helped disperse protesters in 2020, the then-Vice President joked that his wife “is my Secret Service.”

““Hey, dude, don’t go flirting with a girl from Philadelphia, I’m telling you that,” Biden said at the time.

President Biden frequently quotes his father’s teaching that “family is the beginning, the middle and the end,” and his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, knows that better than anyone.

She has been involved in Biden’s political career from the beginning, with Owens managing Biden’s upset 1972 U.S. Senate election and his first presidential campaign less than two decades later.

“Val It’s like the connective tissue that ties together the campaign process from ’72 to today.“Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s then-deputy campaign manager, told BuzzFeed News in 2019.

Biden-Owens joked at the time about how tough it would be for him not to be able to manage his brother’s ultimately successful campaign, given that he’d managed his brother’s campaigns dating back to their high school days.

“This is the first time I’ve ever not been able to control my campaign and it’s really frustrating!” she told BuzzFeed.

A Democratic official, who declined to be named, told Axios that if there was a quiet campaign to oust Biden, the president’s sister should be one of the few people making the case.

Former Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman may be one of Biden’s few actual contemporaries.

Biden has been in office for a very long time, and as The New York Times points out, few current Democratic leaders are likely to enjoy his longevity, especially given his complicated relationships with former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Kaufman has been by Biden’s side for decades, dating back to the 1972 campaign and becoming his chief of staff just a few years after Biden was elected, before replacing him when Biden retired from the Senate after being elected vice president in 2009.

Kaufman, a close friend of Biden’s and someone who has been described as his alter-ego, has told Biden hard truths before: It was Kaufman who urged Biden, then a senator, to drop out of the presidential race in 1987 after a plagiarism scandal emerged.

““There’s only one way to stop the sharks: retreat,” Kaufman told Biden, according to the New York Times.

Biden often travels home to Delaware on the weekends, and when he gets home, he goes looking for Kaufman, according to the Times.

Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain has been at the center of Biden’s debate gaffes.

Klain has been preparing Democrats for presidential debates for decades, and he helped his former boss prepare for the debates in between his new job at Airbnb.

Klain, a native of Indiana, has worked for Biden almost nonstop since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1987. Under Biden, he served as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, a role he returned to during the Obama administration after serving as chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore.

Klain’s decision to endorse former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary rather than Biden, who was still considering running, was seen as a serious betrayal.

But Klain is back in Biden’s fold, fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a top adviser to the president. It may be difficult for Biden’s former secretary to pressure his longtime boss to step down because of their closeness.

““He’s like a father to Ron Klain. What would you say to a father? This is tough, very tough,” Elaine Kamark, a longtime member of the Democratic National Committee, told The Times.

Biden still speaks with him once a week to gauge the best ways to attack Trump, according to the Times.

Like others in Biden’s inner circle, Mike Donilon has been by the president’s side for decades.

The Times reported that Biden has been calling Donilon almost daily to get his opinion on news topics. Donilon, a former senior White House adviser who left the administration to join Biden’s reelection campaign, said in a statement.

He played a key role in shaping Biden’s messaging for his successful 2020 presidential campaign.