Joe Biden held a face-to-face meeting with Kamala Harris on Wednesday, as more polls showed him losing ground to Donald Trump and speculation swirled about the vice-president replacing him in the White House race.
Biden’s closed-door lunch with Harris at the White House came hours before the president met more than 20 influential Democratic governors, including California governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois governor JB Pritzker, who are seen as possible successors if the president withdraws from the race.
The talks with key Democrats came days after the president’s disastrous debate performance sparked panic in the party about his fitness for office and ability to beat Trump in this year’s election. The White House and Biden campaign have insisted that the president will remain in the race.
But pressure mounted on the president on Wednesday, with new calls from within the party for him to drop out and polls showing a sharp fall in support for his candidacy in recent days.
A group of national security-focused moderate Democratic House members have drafted a letter urging Biden to withdraw from the race, according to one person familiar with the effort. Bloomberg News first reported that dozens of Democratic lawmakers were privately considering signing a letter demanding Biden step aside.
At the same time, Arizona Democratic congressman Raúl Grijalva on Wednesday became the second House member to publicly call for Biden to suspend his re-election bid.
“This is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” Grijalva told The New York Times. “What [Biden] needs to do is shoulder the responsibility . . . part of that responsibility is to get out of the race.”
Seth Moulton, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, issued his own statement, saying he had “grave concerns” about Biden’s ability to beat Trump.
“President Biden is not going to get younger,” Moulton added. “We should have all viable options on the table.”
“It is unfair, and it is unfortunate, but he is on the clock,” said one veteran Democratic strategist. “He has to show that he is up to this campaign, this election, and can beat Donald Trump.”
Polls for The New York Times, CBS and The Wall Street Journal, all conducted after the debate, showed a sharp drop in support for Biden.
The New York Times also quoted an anonymous ally of Biden saying the president was aware that his campaign was now in peril, with much riding on forthcoming public appearances. CNN published a similar report citing an unnamed Biden ally.
A White House spokesperson called The New York Times report “absolutely false”.
The reports followed a statement on Tuesday from a Democratic congressman publicly calling on the president to step aside. Several others publicly cast doubt on Biden’s ability to beat Trump in November.
But Biden told campaign staffers on a call on Wednesday afternoon that he was not dropping out.
“I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win because when Democrats unite, we will always win,” Biden said, according to a person familiar with the call.
Harris also joined the call and insisted she was behind the president: “We will not back down. We will follow our president’s lead. We will fight, and we will win.”
Harris has been plagued by low approval ratings as vice-president but has gained support among Democrats as a replacement for Biden in recent days. Betting markets on Wednesday shifted sharply in favour of Harris, giving her better odds of winning the election than Biden.
On Tuesday, a CNN poll conducted after the debate found that while Biden’s approval rating had plunged to an all-time low, Harris was now polling better than him in a hypothetical match-up against Trump.
Trump’s campaign has kept a relatively low profile since the debate, allowing Democratic party infighting to dominate the headlines. But Trump’s senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles issued a statement on Wednesday insisting Trump could beat any Democrat, “especially Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris”.
Amid a deepening crisis in the party, Biden spoke by phone with Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday evening and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday morning, according to several people familiar with the lawmakers’ plans.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed on Wednesday that Biden had also spoken with longtime allies Jim Clyburn, the South Carolina congressman, and Delaware Senator Chris Coons.
Some Democratic lawmakers have warned that Biden will not only lose the White House but could drag down the party’s other congressional candidates.
The president and vice-president on Wednesday evening met two dozen Democratic state governors, several of whom are reported to have privately expressed concern about Biden’s candidacy.
But after the meeting, three governors emerged from the White House to insist they had full confidence in the president.
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“The governors have his back,” said Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who added Biden was “fit for office”.
“The president continued to tell us and show us that he was all in,” said Maryland governor Wes Moore, while New York governor Kathy Hochul added: “President Joe Biden is in it to win it.”
Newsom, Pritzker and Whitmer all attended the White House meeting in person, as did Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, according to the White House, but they did not speak to reporters after the meeting. Others, including North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, participated virtually.
Additional reporting by Joshua Chaffin in New York
