“It’s up to the president to decide whether he’s going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running out,” the California Democrat said. “He’s loved, he’s respected, and people want him to make that decision.”
In those few sentences on a show that Biden is known to watch, Pelosi did not directly call for Biden to step aside. But she significantly reframed a delicate but urgent conversation that was taking place among Capitol Hill lawmakers, Democratic donors, party strategists and voters after Biden’s faltering debate performance two weeks ago raised questions about whether he can defeat Donald Trump and serve another term as president.
In a letter to Hill Democrats this week, Biden insisted he was running for reelection. But Pelosi, with subtle precision on morning television, said the president needed to make a “decision.” She was the most vocal of a number of Democrats to paint a portrait of a president who is deeply considering whether to run, even as Biden and his camp maintain there is no other choice on the table.
And it left congressional Democrats wondering whether they would really have any say in the course Biden chooses to take, with four months to go until November.
According to those who have known and watched Pelosi over the past few administrations, she does not operate in a vacuum and is intentional in her language. Her timing was notable, coming just days after the president released his letter and a day before a high-stakes Biden news conference, according to Democrats who have worked with and around the former House speaker.
Pelosi, who remains in the House even after leaving the speaker’s office, is “always very deliberate about what she says,” a senior House Democratic member said. said the advisor.
In the hours after his speech, a New York member from a competitive district — Rep. Pat Ryan (D) — said he could no longer support Biden, the 12th Democratic House member by the end of the day to call for the president to step down. New York Lt. Gov. and former House member Antonio Delgado said it was time for a “new leader.” Otherwise, the most prominent voice calling for Biden to drop out of the race on Wednesday was actor George Clooney. A Senate Democrat — Peter Welch (Vt.) — became the first senator to publicly call for Biden to step down in an op-ed for The Washington Post on Wednesday night.
“We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid issues raised since that night,” Welch said.
Pelosi’s TV interview came just minutes before a group of swing-district Democrats held a second meeting in as many days with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) to discuss Biden’s candidacy. The House’s most vulnerable members have only grown more fearful in recent days that Biden will be a drag in their races, as new public and internal campaign polls have painted a bleak electoral picture for Democrats, depressing their ability to retake the chamber. Democrats need to gain just four seats to regain the House majority, but all of their most vulnerable members are expected to win.
Pelosi’s loyalty is to the House and she will act in the best interests of the House, two senior House Democratic aides noted.
Congressional Democrats have been privately concerned about Biden’s performance in the debate two weeks ago, in which he seemed at times lost or unable to finish his sentences. But many have been hesitant to publicly urge him to abandon his campaign, waiting, they say, for more polling data, for the NATO summit in Washington to end this week and to see how Biden performs at a news conference on Thursday night.
Congressional leaders — including Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) — have said they support Biden but have said little else, despite widespread fear among their constituencies that the president could seriously jeopardize their chances of regaining the House majority and holding onto the Senate in November.
“I agree with Nancy. She’s stating the obvious,” Welch said earlier Wednesday. “President Biden has made it clear that he’s fully engaged, but the evidence continues to mount about how an uphill battle is turning into an uphill battle.”
As of Wednesday morning, Pelosi hadn’t said much either. But when she did, Washington took note of the potential implications.
The former president is one of the few Democratic power brokers who can effectively pressure the president, several current and former Hill aides say. A chief of staff for a Democratic House member said the California Democrat — who is 84 and will step down as House leader in 2023 — “holds the most sway” among party leaders and could ultimately deliver a somber message to a defiant Biden, given the pair’s decades-long relationship.
“There’s only one person who has the seriousness and the courage to say anything to Biden and that’s Pelosi,” said a former Hill aide who is close to congressional leadership.
Pelosi’s comments were not coordinated with Jeffries, three senior Democratic aides said. The leadership is still in listening mode, these aides said, as the House Democratic caucus remains deeply divided over how to approach Biden’s fitness for office.
Jeffries has offered little guidance to his members on how to approach the Biden issue. In particular, he has not told members whether they should hold the line for the president, according to five people familiar with his deliberations who — like some others interviewed for this article — spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Vulnerable Democrats and other members who have spoken to Jeffries in recent days said they feel he understands their concerns.
In two separate meetings in the past 24 hours, Jeffries told members that he would soon relay members’ deep concerns to the president, according to three people familiar with the remarks. It’s not clear whether a call has yet been scheduled.
But several aides said Jeffries was cornered when Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus came out in support of Biden this week. Jeffries is a member of the CBC and is extremely respectful of the group’s leaders. Furthermore, there are doubts among the leadership that the president would take their advice if they shared concerns about the campaign. A senior House Democratic aide complained that it was not even clear whether any member of the House leadership would be able to reach Biden if they tried.
But there is a resounding belief among congressional Democrats that Biden may listen to Pelosi.
“I will say she is probably the most experienced politician that walks the face of the planet,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.), who this week praised Biden for being one of the most effective presidents in U.S. history. “So I’ll leave it at that.”
Biden, 81, and Pelosi, 84, share the Catholic faith and have spent more than three decades working together on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues, including the 1994 crime bill that included an assault weapons ban.
Biden’s last major legislative achievement as a senator, the July 2008 passage of legislation to combat AIDS in Africa, was a signature issue that Pelosi shepherded through the House during her first term as speaker. As vice speaker, Biden was often tasked with selling compromises with congressional Republicans to Pelosi’s caucus, which left many Democrats with a bitter taste — but earned Pelosi’s respect.
After Democrats took full control of Washington in January 2021, Biden and Pelosi, along with Schumer, worked together on an ambitious policy agenda, including the largest investment ever in combating climate change. Their partnership grew so much that throughout late 2021 and 2022, longtime diplomatic observers — from Foggy Bottom to Rome — noted Biden’s delay in nominating a U.S. ambassador to Italy. That sparked deep speculation that whenever she left office, the president wanted to send the Italian-American Catholic to Rome as a cornerstone.
She denied those rumors, and after deciding to step down from leadership, Pelosi took the unusual step of remaining in the House and rejoining the rank and file, albeit with continued gravitas and an honorific title: “Speaker Emeritus.”
Until last week, perhaps no Democrat had been a more effective defender of Biden’s age and capabilities than Pelosi, frequently turning any question on the subject into an attack on Trump and a strong defense of Biden.
“Joe Biden has vision. He has knowledge. He’s a strategic thinker. This is a very sharp president in terms of his public presentation,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in February. “If he slips up here or there, what’s the big deal?”
Just five months ago, Pelosi was vehemently defending Biden’s handling of matters in private settings, even as some cleaning up of his public statements was needed. “I think his public presentation is good,” she told Cooper. “I think you see firsthand in meetings that he is in control of the situation.”
Liz Goodwin and Theodoric Meyer contributed to this report.
