Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, said Saturday that President Biden could make a decision within days on whether to stay in the presidential race to seek a second term.
This comes after Green participated in a recent meeting with Biden and nearly two dozen Democratic governors amid concerns about the president's reelection campaign, following the president's shaky performance in last month's debate against former President Donald Trump.
“I think the president should stay in this race unless he feels like he can't win it or he feels like he has to listen to other voices in his inner circle telling him he shouldn't run,” Green, whose family has known the president for years, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “If the president felt like he wasn't up to it and he really wasn't up to it, he would resign.”
“We will probably know in the next few days what the president thinks about all this,” he added.
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President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, second from left, and his wife Jaime Green as they pass the massive Banyan tree while visiting areas devastated by the Maui wildfires, Aug. 21, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Agency)
Green said he believes Biden should be allowed to choose who should replace him on the ticket if he were to drop out of the race and that the president would likely name Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.
“I think it's pretty clear that the Democratic Party as a whole would be happy to have the president pick his vice president if it came to that,” Green said.
Harris “is a powerful person, she is also a thought leader, she is an African American who was… [California’s] “Attorney general,” Green said. “There are no better credentials than the current vice president has.”
Biden, 81, has repeatedly insisted over the past week and a half that he will remain in the race, including in an interview with ABC News that aired Friday night.
Since his debate performance, however, concerns have been raised about the president's mental acuity, including by members of his party. Some Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race, while others in the party, particularly governors, have said they continue to support his reelection.
Green said his prediction that the president will make a decision within days takes into account the expected pressure that could be brought to bear on the president when congressional lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is working to build support among Democratic senators, with an eye toward a meeting Monday to discuss the possibility of pushing Biden to drop out of the presidential race. Also, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is leading a virtual meeting with top Democrats on Sunday, where leaders are expected to discuss the path forward for Biden’s campaign.
President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I truly believe that he has to make the decision,” Green said. “And it shouldn't come from another governor. It shouldn't come from anyone but his closest advisers and his own heart.”
Green also noted that Trump, who is 78 and the biggest threat to Biden's reelection, is only three years younger than Biden and that both will experience cognitive lapses in the future.
But, Green argued, temperament is more important than age in the presidential race.
“For God's sake, these two guys have to have the nuclear codes. I don't want someone tweeting in the middle of the night and raging at other countries,” Green said, referring to Trump. “That's not good. That's not the problem we have with President Biden.”
Green, who was a doctor before moving into the governor's mansion, said everyone has elderly parents or grandparents who experience pauses in their ability to express themselves clearly or other mental lapses, but they are not pushed aside because they still possess great experience and wisdom and have a role in the family.
“That's why I will support the president until he tells me otherwise,” Green said.
Green also offered some insight into the meeting with Biden and other Democratic governors. Green said he asked Biden about his health, to which the president responded by saying everything was fine except for his brain.
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Hawaii Gov. Josh Green speaks during a news conference about the destruction of historic Lahaina and the aftermath of the West Maui wildfires in Wailuku, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
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Biden's comment, which had already been made public, was made in jest, according to Green, who said the context was lost when it was leaked by other people.
“It was absolutely a joke, and to make a self-deprecating joke you need to have intact cognitive function, period,” Green said.
Green also rejected claims that advisers arranged the meeting so that governors supporting Biden would speak first to silence any criticism. The Hawaii governor said the reality was that the meeting included a very candid and unscripted conversation with governors from different perspectives.
“That call was just like you'd expect in a coffee shop, some people were badmouthing, some people were, you know, probably overly praising the president, but almost everyone was trying to see, 'Are we okay?'” Green said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
