WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s insistence that he is the Democratic presidential nominee and will not be dropped from the race appears to have led to public Democratic defections — at least for now.
He certainly isn’t clear, and many Democrats are, privately and publicly He complains that he can’t beat Donald Trump This fall, Biden appears to have staunched the bleeding as he and his allies work to shore up support for his beleaguered presidential campaign.
“If the opposition is not unified, that’s Biden’s advantage,” said one House Democrat.
At a closed-door meeting of House Democrats on Tuesday, only a handful of Democrats raised concerns about Biden’s age and ability to win in November, according to sources in the room. According to sources, this small group of refugees is D-Mass. Seth Moulton, Mike Quigley, D-Ill. and Mark Takano, D-Calif. includes. publicly or privately called for Biden to step aside.
In a minor victory for Biden, the longtime top Democrat on the powerful Judiciary Committee, D.N.Y. His representative, Jerry Nadler, left the meeting as if resigned that Biden would be at the top of the ticket. In a private call with other committee leaders two days ago, Nadler urged Biden to step aside, the sources said.
“Whether I’m concerned or not is beside the point,” Nadler told reporters Tuesday. “He will be our candidate and we should all support him.”
A day earlier, Biden said in an open letter to lawmakers and private phone calls that he is not dropping out of the race after his disastrous debate performance late last month. The overwhelming majority of lawmakers gathered at the Democratic National Committee headquarters Tuesday morning said Biden is the party’s nominee and now is the time for Democratic officials to rally behind him.
“There is an overwhelming consensus that Biden has decided to stay in the race and that we should unite behind him,” the House Democrat and Biden ally said as he left the meeting. “Those who have concerns should voice them privately, because it’s okay — Biden is the candidate.”
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., publicly supported Biden’s continued candidacy, but three sources at the meeting said Jeffries “listened respectfully” to all sides in the room and did not try to twist his arms.
Opening the meeting, Jeffries chided members for leaking details of Sunday’s private Zoom between Democratic committee leaders, two sources confirmed. Wagging his finger, Jeffries said he didn’t want leaks to come from Tuesday’s meeting.
This is an evolving story. Please check for updates.
Sahil Kapoor, Rebecca Kaplan, Kyle Stewart and Bridget Bowman contributed.