WASHINGTON — Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet on Tuesday night became the first Senate Democrat to publicly say President Joe Biden cannot win the election, but stopped short of calling for him to drop out of the race.
Asked on CNN whether he and Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) had told colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that Biden couldn’t beat former President Donald Trump in the fall’s presidential election, Bennet acknowledged that he had.
“Well, it’s true that I said that. And I said that behind closed doors. And you guys and others asked if I said that, and so I said yes, and so I thought I should come out here and say it publicly,” said Bennet, who ran against Biden in the 2020 presidential primary.
Bennet, who has served in the Senate since 2009 and is a former campaign manager for Senate Democrats, expressed concern about polls showing Trump leading Biden with less than four months to go until Election Day.
“I believe Donald Trump is going to win this election, probably in a landslide victory, and take control of the House and the Senate,” Bennet said. “So to me this isn’t about polls, this isn’t about politics. This is a moral issue about the future of our country, and I think it’s critical that we understand what we’re up against if we come together and try to put this country on a path to re-electing Donald Trump.”
In response to Bennett’s comments, Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said Biden has no plans to surrender.
“No one is more committed to defeating Donald Trump and protecting our democracy, and few know better than Joe Biden the importance of campaigning for voters’ support,” Munoz said in a statement. “This race was always expected to be close, and the developments we are seeing are ones we have long anticipated. Voters are deeply concerned about Donald Trump and his harmful policies, and the more we engage and reach out to them, the more they will support President Biden.”
“There’s still a long way to go until Election Day, and the effort to make sure every vote counts is far from over.”
Biden struck a defiant tone in conference calls and an open letter to Democratic lawmakers, insisting he was his party’s nominee and would not be dropped from the race.
Still, Bennet’s comments are a blow to a campaign that has been aggressively trying to stave off defections and solidify support on Capitol Hill following Biden’s debacle on June 27. They could also encourage other skeptical or vulnerable Democrats to follow his lead.
Most Democrats kept quiet after the private lunch on Tuesday, saying only that the discussion had been “constructive.” But one source said Bennet, Brown and Tester all expressed concerns that Biden wouldn’t win the election. Another source said those concerns were voiced individually, not as a group. Those concerns were first reported by CNN.
Brown and Tester face tough re-election battles this fall.
Brown said he would not discuss private meetings, adding that “there are very legitimate questions about this.”
Tester did not deny the reports of his remarks or comment to reporters as he left the Capitol. He said in a statement on Tuesday that “President Biden’s appalling performance in the debate raises serious questions about whether he is fit to be president.” [to] “He’s in that job for the next four years, and like I said, he needs to prove to the American people and to me that he can do it.”
Bennett appeared on CNN and said that none of the Democrats at the private lunch had called on Biden to back down, and that he wouldn’t go that far.
“If I were Joe Biden, I understand how hard it would be to sit there and say to myself, after all of the extraordinary public service that I’ve worked for and accomplished and served the American people – extraordinary, and arguably one of the greatest leaders to hold that office in recent history and has accomplished so much that we should celebrate that – after all of that, it would be so hard to admit that I’m in the race of my lifetime against someone I can’t win,” Bennet said.
“I think that’s probably really hard for him to admit that. I think that’s probably really hard for the people that work for him to admit that.”
