Amid growing unrest in Washington over his re-election bid, President Biden has turned to some of his staunchest supporters: Democratic mayors.
Biden participated in a video call Tuesday night hosted by the Democratic Mayors Association, the latest attempt by his campaign to calm key Democratic officials concerned about the 81-year-old president’s faltering performance in last month’s debate. Biden spoke to nearly 200 mayors during the webinar, laying out his policy goals for a second term and contrasting them with former President Trump’s promises for his second term.
Mayors on the call said Biden spoke for about 20 minutes. He acknowledged that his debate performance had been lackluster before moving on to discuss policy issues including abortion rights, housing, gun violence and infrastructure. Biden took questions from the mayors of Kansas City, Missouri; Madison, Wisconsin; and San Antonio, Texas, in a conversation moderated by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
Biden appeared confident and optimistic, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said, “in stark contrast to what we saw two weeks ago.” Gloria, a California delegate to the Democratic National Convention, said he has “no doubt” about voting for Biden.
“This president showed up and helped cities, and that really contrasts with the other option,” Gloria said. “The questions were, ‘How can we help?’ It wasn’t really about, ‘Hey, get a cognitive test,’ or even, ‘Hey, we’ll see how you do after a couple more press conferences.’”
Other California mayors on the call included Karen Bass of Los Angeles, London Breed of San Francisco and Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, their offices confirmed. Bass, in a prepared statement, said, “I support our nominee, President Biden.”
“Like everyone else, I watched the debate and was concerned,” Steinberg said in an interview Wednesday. “Last night, he certainly gave me a lot of reassurance that he was on top of everything.”
Steinberg said he didn’t see the debate among Democrats over Biden’s fitness as a sign of weakness in the party, but rather as an expression of how desperately the party wants to beat Trump in November. He said Democrats now have to choose between making Biden’s fitness for office an issue for the coming months, or focusing on winning.
“You have to continue to show the kind of energy I saw last night,” Steinberg said. “You’re in a fight, fight. Show us that you’re in the fight, in ways that uplift and inspire.”
The Democratic Mayors Association endorsed Biden's re-election bid after the meeting.
“As mayors, we have seen firsthand what it is like to run a city under President Trump,” the group said. “We cannot endure another four years of chaos and fear as he dismantles our fundamental freedoms and rights, threatens our diverse populations, and disparages the places we call home. Our cities deserve better.”
