After enduring days of blowback from Hill Democrats privately panicked about his debate flop, President Joe Biden decided to give his doubters an ultimatum: Speak up or shut up.
At least for now, the vast majority of Democratic lawmakers are shutting up.
Biden’s emphatic insistence that he’s staying in the race — a newly aggressive posture in the last two days and grounded in an underdog mentality — has succeeded in at least temporarily freezing Democratic leaders in their tracks, even as many in his party still harbor grave concerns about his health and ability to win reelection.
Since Congress returned to Washington on Monday evening, just one new Democrat has publicly called for Biden to step aside. Some who privately supported replacing him just days ago have since recanted. And far from being the dam-breaking moment on the Hill that many anticipated, most Democrats instead acknowledged there’s simply no easy way to push a defiant president off the ticket.
“He has the delegates. I keep telling them that,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). “He got 14 million votes. Nobody else has any.”
The sudden retreat came after Biden forcefully refuted Democrats who had spent the past week and a half discussing how to move him aside, deriding them as out-of-touch “elites” who were making the mistake of underestimating him yet again. During a cable news interview on Monday, he directly challenged skeptics to try to unseat him at next month’s convention.
In subsequent private calls with donors and lawmakers, Biden left them with a single unmistakable message: He wasn’t going anywhere.
“He is being absolutely clear that he’s not dropping out,” said one Biden adviser, who was granted anonymity to discuss the effort to cement his nomination. “There is no way to get him off the ballot unless he agrees. And he is not going to agree.”
The fiery approach was as much a calculated political strategy as an expression of Biden’s personal conviction about his own appeal to voters — and his deep-seated resentment of critics he is convinced have long been eager to count him out.
Bolstered by the enthusiastic reception that Biden received at weekend campaign stops in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the president and his inner circle plotted a media blitz aimed at browbeating his party back in line.
Top White House aide Steve Ricchetti ramped up Hill outreach amid complaints lawmakers had heard little from the administration since the debate, according to a person familiar with the matter who was granted anonymity to discuss internal planning. Anita Dunn and Mike Donilon, two of Biden’s other closest aides, set up a surprise “Morning Joe” call-in and crafted a letter to lawmakers effectively ordering them to move on.
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now,” Biden wrote. “And it’s time for it to end.”
The ramped-up defense represented a shift from the Biden campaign’s initial attempt at contrition and damage control in the aftermath of the debate, repositioning Biden instead as a down-and-out underdog besieged by pundits and party elites, a characterization that has benefited him throughout his career.
And even as the effort drew eye rolls from some rank-and-file Democrats who were quick to note that voters also broadly share doubts about Biden’s age, the push has effectively kept those private complaints from bursting into public.
“When you have your caucus this large and this diverse, and the diversity of our districts people are going to have different opinions,” said Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.). “But at the end of the day, Joe Biden is our nominee.”
Notably, Biden has maintained the public support of Democratic leaders in Congress, who have sought to tamp down concerns and urged lawmakers to refocus on attacking Donald Trump. Biden also made a point of meeting on Monday night with the Congressional Black Caucus, a group of 50-plus lawmakers that would serve as a bulwark against any attempt at replacing him.
Still, Biden’s standing within the broader party remains deeply damaged. Democrats alarmed by the debate are still privately frustrated over his aides’ dismissals of his halting performance as “one bad night” and their response as “bedwetting.” They worry that the campaign has no clear plan for making up Biden’s polling deficit in the battleground states he needs to beat Trump in November. And they fear that Biden will suffer another public stumble, perhaps one that comes too late to replace him on the ballot.
On Tuesday, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) became the seventh House Democrat to call for Biden to drop out, arguing that “the stakes are too high” and the “threat is too real” for her “to stay silent,” she said in a statement.
Several others stopped just short. Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), a member of House Democratic leadership, acknowledged “concerns” about Biden’s ability to defeat Trump. Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), an outspoken national security voice in the party, said he’d conduct an “independent assessment” before recommending a path forward. Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.), who remains supportive of Biden, nevertheless joined a chorus of Democrats urging the president to prove he’s up for the job through unscripted interviews and town halls.
“I can’t answer those questions for President Biden,” Nickel said. “He’s got to be the one to get out there and do it.”
Those sentiments, Biden allies concede, are far from the full-throated support that a president ideally wants to take into the stretch run of his reelection campaign. Biden’s vulnerability is likely to be a central topic at next week’s Republican convention, and every public appearance now doubles as a referendum on his acuity. His next test is slated for Thursday, when Biden is set to hold a press conference at the NATO summit.
But at least for now, they contend, pressure is building on Democrats to coalesce. And for perhaps the first time since last month’s debate, Biden’s footing within his own party has gotten a little bit firmer.
“How do you prove that you’re mentally competent? Think about that task,” the Biden adviser said. “The way he has to do it is the way he’s been doing it: Go out and relentlessly campaign.”
Eli Stokols, Nicholas Wu, Daniella Diaz and Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.
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