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Joe Biden was set to hold face-to-face meetings with Kamala Harris and a group of influential Democratic governors on Wednesday, as speculation swirled over whether the president would ditch his re-election bid in favour of his vice-president.
The White House and the Biden campaign have for days insisted that the president will stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance last week that raised serious questions about his fitness for office and ability to beat Donald Trump at the ballot box.
But mounting pressure from lawmakers, party operatives and donors urging him to quit the race, and a series of damaging polls, have cast fresh doubt on his campaign.
A New York Times report on Wednesday quoted an anonymous key ally saying Biden was aware that his re-election bid was now in peril, with much riding on forthcoming public appearances, including a taped national television interview on Friday and campaign stops in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania this weekend. CNN published a similar report citing an unnamed Biden ally.
A White House spokesperson called The New York Times report “absolutely false”.
The reports came a day after a Democratic congressman publicly called on the president to step aside — the first lawmaker from his party to do so — and several others publicly cast doubt on his ability to beat Trump in November.
Public opinion polls published since then have shown Biden losing ground to his Republican rival.
A new CBS News poll conducted after the debate and published on Wednesday showed Trump with a two-point lead over Biden nationally. The same poll gave Biden a lead a month ago. On Tuesday, a CNN poll conducted after the debate showed Biden’s approval rating had plunged to an all-time low and found that Harris polled better than him in a hypothetical match-up against Trump.
Harris has been plagued by low approval ratings for much of her time as vice-president. But her potential as a replacement for Biden has gained momentum in recent days. Betting markets on Wednesday shifted sharply in favour of Harris, giving her better odds of winning November’s election than Biden.
Harris has kept a relatively low profile since the debate, pressing ahead with campaign events and fundraisers on the west coast to support Biden’s re-election bid. Her lunch with the president on Wednesday is understood to be their first face-to-face meeting since the debate.
Biden also spoke by phone with Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday evening and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday morning, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
The discussions come amid brewing unrest among Democratic lawmakers who have both privately and publicly expressed consternation that Biden will not only lose the White House but could prove a drag on down-ballot Democrats running for House and Senate seats.
Biden will on Wednesday evening meet several Democratic state governors concerned about the president’s candidacy.
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Illinois governor JB Pritzker was among those who were flying into Washington to attend the meeting in person, according to a person familiar with his schedule. California governor Gavin Newsom was also reportedly planning on attending the meeting at the White House. A spokesperson for Newsom did not respond to a request for comment.
Both North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro would dial in virtually, according to their spokespeople. A spokesperson for Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, widely seen as another possible presidential candidate, did not respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez in Washington and Joshua Chaffin in New York
