WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s base of support among key Democrats on Capitol Hill began to crumble Sunday as a half-dozen top members of the House privately told colleagues he should withdraw from the presidential race amid growing concerns about his age and ability to win reelection.
During a virtual private meeting, the House Democrats — all senior members of powerful committees — discussed how to use their collective influence to convince Biden he had little chance of defeating former President Donald Trump, according to five people familiar with the confidential discussion, including three who were present, all of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss it.
The consensus during the session, which was convened by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the minority leader, was that a change at the top of the ticket was needed to preserve the party’s chances of holding the White House and prevailing in the fight for control of Congress, the people said.
Among those saying explicitly that Biden should end his candidacy were Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee; Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee; Mark Takano of California, the ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee; and Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the committee on House Administration.
A fifth Democrat, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, also expressed uncertainty about Biden’s path forward. A sixth Democrat, Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the ranking member of the Ethics Committee, said in a statement after the session that she had “expressed the same concerns that Americans across the country are grappling with, about President Biden’s electability,” adding that the “difficult process” that Democrats are going through to determine the best path forward should be done in a confidential way.
Several participants in the meeting declined to comment on the confidential discussion. One attendee, Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, issued a statement afterward declaring, “I support President Biden.” Another, Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, called Biden a “visionary leader” on social media, adding: “Let’s keep it going.”
A Biden campaign official pointed to the president’s past insistence that he was staying in the race and noted that many top Democrats had expressed public support for him in recent days, including the leaders and top members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, critical groups in the House.
But the private concerns have only grown. Jeffries convened the high-level meeting, which included only ranking committee members, as a listening session to get input from all corners of the Democratic caucus about Biden’s candidacy as Democrats weigh how aggressive and public they want to be in elevating concerns in the face of the president’s defiant posture that only divine intervention could force him out of the race.
Some Democrats are still saying Biden deserves a final chance to right his campaign. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said earlier Sunday that the president’s first television interview since the debate fell short of alleviating deep concerns about his condition, and that he had more work to do to convince voters he is fit to run for and win reelection.
“Voters do have questions,” Murphy said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He added: “Personally, I love Joe Biden, and I don’t know that the interview on Friday night did enough to answer those questions. This week is going to be absolutely critical. I think the president needs to do more.”
He avoided directly answering whether Biden should step aside, saying: “I know there are a lot of voters out there that need to be convinced that Thursday’s night’s debate performance was a bad night.”
The carefully calibrated comments from Murphy were some of the first public alarm bells from the ranks of Senate Democrats, who have stayed mostly silent since the debate over a week ago but who are increasingly concerned about Biden’s ability to serve as the party’s nominee.
During the private House meeting, some lawmakers who took part, including Democrats who did not explicitly say they thought the president should stand aside, said they believed that Vice President Kamala Harris would be a strong candidate to take on Trump should Biden leave the race.
The drumbeat of opposition against Biden continuing as the party’s nominee came only after a few senior Democrats opened the meeting by speaking in support of the president. But the tide quickly turned after Nadler was the first Democrat to speak against continuing with Biden.
Although no Democratic congressional leader has yet publicly called on Biden to step aside, five rank-and-file House Democrats have done so, and anxiety is beginning to bubble into the open among senators as well.
Murphy said he thought Biden could still defeat Trump. But he added that “the president needs to answer those questions that voters have.” Murphy insisted multiple times during the interview that Biden had to prove himself “this week” in “unscripted” conversations with voters.
“They need to see more from the president, and I hope that we see that this week,” he said.
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