A small but growing number of Democratic members of Congress — about 20 as of Friday afternoon — have publicly called on President Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
Almost all are white, and many are members of the New Democratic Coalition, a moderate party. But Biden still has strong support from the majority of the Congressional Black Caucus, which has about 60 House members, and from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has about 40.
Your fate may depend on whether you can keep them.
The fear of many Democrats — whether they say it publicly or not — is not just that Biden will lose the White House, but also that he will ruin his chances of winning the Senate or the House of Representatives. Congressional leaders have conveyed their concerns to Biden, but they have no power to force him to resign, and they worry that open conflict could be disastrous for the party.
Biden has scoffed at polls suggesting a majority of Democratic voters believe he should step aside after his disastrous debate with former President Trump last month.
“I am determined to run for office,” the president said at a news conference Thursday. “I have to finish the job because there is a lot at stake.”
He said he wouldn't reconsider unless his advisers told him “there's no way you can win.”
In the middle are two leaders whose decisions could be key to their fate: former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and the old-school patriarch of the black bloc, Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-Sc.).
Pelosi, who retired as Democratic leader in 2022, remains the party’s most respected political strategist. On Wednesday, she made it clear to Biden that he needs to make a thoughtful decision on whether to run, even though the president had previously said he had made up his mind.
“It is up to the president to decide whether he will run or not,” he said. “We all encourage him to make that decision, because time is running out.”
Clyburn, meanwhile, has expressed his full support for the president, but has made clear that Biden still has time to reconsider.
“The conversation should focus on the record of this administration … and let Joe Biden continue to make his own decisions about the future,” Clyburn said Friday. “If he decides to change his mind down the road, then we will respond to that.”
Clyburn has also said he thinks Vice President Kamala Harris would be a good candidate if the president steps down.
A former congressional aide who is in touch with Democratic leaders said Clyburn and others in the Black Caucus appear determined to ensure Harris is next in line if Biden drops out. “They’re making sure she’s the only alternative,” the former aide said. “The longer this goes on, the easier it will be to put her in office.”
Clyburn has a special bond with Biden: In the 2020 primary for the Democratic nomination, when Biden’s campaign was struggling, it was Clyburn who helped secure a key victory in South Carolina thanks to overwhelming support from the state’s Black voters.
Even before that episode, Biden considered Black Democrats a cornerstone of his coalition and has remained attentive to their concerns. He named Harris, a Black senator, as his running mate and appointed the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson. He waged a spirited fight for voting rights legislation that had little chance of passing. He increased federal aid to historically Black colleges.
And when his debate performance sparked panic among some Democrats, the first group he turned to for support was the Congressional Black Caucus.
Most members of the House of Representatives responded with fervent support. Most represent predominantly Democratic districts, so their re-election is at little risk if the president loses.
“It’s not going to be any other Democratic candidate,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said fervently at the Essence Festival in New Orleans last week. “It’s going to be Biden.”
But even within the Black Caucus, some cracks have appeared. This week, Reps. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) expressed fear that if Biden falters, the party’s chances of securing a House majority will also suffer.
The chair and vice chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Reps. Nanette Díaz Barragán (D-San Pedro) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), issued a statement supporting Biden, but two members of their caucus, Reps. Raul M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano), have called on Biden to resign.
Those calling for Biden to step down come from a variety of districts and backgrounds. Most are moderates, but at least six are members of the Progressive Caucus. On the other hand, several progressives who have criticized Biden for his policies on Israel and Gaza, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), have publicly supported the president.
The question now is whether the trickle of voices publicly calling for Biden to step down — so far, less than 10 percent of the House Democratic bloc — becomes a flood that prompts Pelosi, Clyburn and others to step up their pressure on the president.
Several people close to Democratic leaders said the battle will likely last for weeks as new poll numbers come in, voters weigh in and more members make their decisions.
The real deadline, Clyburn and others said, isn't until the Democratic National Convention begins on Aug. 19. At that point, delegates who formally nominate the party's nominee can make a decision.
Even Biden acknowledged that delegates are free to vote for any candidate, although almost all were chosen in primaries that he won.
“If I suddenly show up at the convention and everyone says we want someone else, that’s the democratic process,” he said at his news conference. Then he smiled and added in a confident whisper: “That’s not going to happen.”
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