U.S. President Joe Biden, who is in quarantine at his beachfront villa in Delaware, not only struggled with the new coronavirus this weekend, but also faced the harsh reality that many heavyweight Democrats wanted him to consider withdrawing from the 2024 election to avoid a massive setback for the Democratic Party.
The Biden campaign will hold a full staff meeting on Friday (July 19). At the same time, the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee will also meet on the same day to continue to advance plans to hold virtual voting before the convention.
The Democratic Party will hold its national convention in Chicago on August 19. To avoid disputes at the convention, the Democratic Party plans to let delegates vote virtually on the presidential nomination starting in early August, two weeks earlier than the formal convention.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the formal nomination and heroic acclaim at the just-concluded Republican National Convention. Meanwhile, Democrats are buying time to consider persuading Biden to withdraw before the Democratic National Convention to make way for a new presidential candidate.
“President Biden should be respected and able to have important internal discussions with his caucus members, his colleagues in both houses of Congress and the Democratic leadership, rather than fighting leaks and press statements,” Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat and one of Biden’s closest friends in Congress, told The Associated Press.
Some Democrats have privately discussed the possibility of Vice President Kamala Harris as an alternative. Others prefer to open the election process to select a new presidential candidate.
A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that about 60% of Democrats believe Harris is qualified for the presidency, about 20% do not think she is qualified, and another 20% said they do not understand the situation and cannot make a judgment.
The poll also found that among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds said Biden should withdraw from the race and let the Democratic Party nominate another presidential candidate. This data greatly undermines Biden’s claim after the debate that “Democrats still generally support me.”
Former President Barack Obama reportedly told political allies that Biden’s chances of winning are diminishing and he believes Biden needs to reconsider the feasibility of running for office; former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told Biden that if he does not withdraw from the race, the Democratic Party may lose its chance to gain a majority in the House of Representatives.
Despite the growing calls for Biden to drop out of the race, campaign officials said Biden’s commitment to running has only grown stronger, and Biden’s White House aides have not yet discussed dropping out with the president.
Currently, 20 Democratic congressmen have called on Biden to stop seeking re-election. One congressman who asked not to be named said Biden’s own advisers could not reach a consensus on how he should decide.
Democratic Senator Peter Welch, who has publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race, said: “This problem is clearly not going to subside.” Welch stressed that the current state of anxiety in the Democratic Party is “unsustainable,” including panic among members of Congress and opposition from donors.
In a radio interview recorded before his diagnosis, Biden pushed back against the idea that he was too late in building political support, saying many people didn’t focus on the November election until September.
“All the discussion about who’s ahead and where and how, so far it’s basically neck and neck between me and Trump,” Biden said in the interview released Thursday.