Congressional Democrats Deeply Divided Over Biden’s Fate Upon Return to Washington

While several legislators are publicly declaring their loyalty to Biden, they are rivaled by those who spent the past week agonizing over his future and expressing serious doubts that the 81-year-old could defeat Donald Trump in November.

As of Sunday, nine House Democrats — four privately and five publicly — had called for Biden to drop out of the race. In addition, at least 18 current and former Democrats as of Saturday had publicly raised concerns about Biden’s fitness for office and his ability to defeat Trump as the president heads into a critical week.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is in listening mode and has kept his views on the Biden situation to himself for now. So has Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Both must balance their loyalty to Biden with their own members’ concerns about recapturing the slim majority in the House and holding the Senate in November.

The Biden campaign has stepped up its outreach to Democrats on Capitol Hill in hopes of stopping the bleeding when they return.

On Monday morning, Biden sent a two-page letter to all Democrats in Congress laying out the party’s united vision and defiantly declaring that he is “steadfastly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to defeating Donald Trump.”

“The question of how to move forward has been well-ventilated for more than a week. And it is time for it to end,” Biden writes at the end of his letter. “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together.”

Hours before the letter was sent, the Biden-Harris campaign sent a memo to all Democratic offices on Sunday night. In the memo, obtained by The Washington Post, the campaign outlined 15 public and private events Biden has attended since the debate, touting comments from congressional Democrats defending Biden and recapping how the president’s public support remains.

While it’s unclear how the memo will be received by lawmakers, many House Democratic members and aides privately complained early last week about the campaign sending out talking points instead of considering their requests to put Biden on the campaign trail more often. Many Democrats think the outreach is too little, too late and should have come a week ago, days after the debate.

Biden is expected to call more lawmakers this week, after speaking with 20 last week — including Schumer, Jeffries and Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) — to reassure Democrats that he is listening to their concerns, according to a campaign official.

Some Democrats are waiting to see how Biden fares on the campaign trail and at this week’s NATO summit in Washington before making a judgment. Others see Biden’s campaign and accelerated agenda as too little, too late.

Many say they are concerned that the president continues to deny his ability to defeat Trump.

Calls for Biden to step aside have so far come exclusively from House lawmakers. But that could easily change, and last week, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) tried to form a group that would go to the White House and seek the president’s ouster.

“The president said he would listen to the Lord Almighty if he came, and it’s Sunday, and I certainly respect the Lord, but this is a real-world decision for him and for Democratic senators and members of Congress,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said in an interview Sunday, referring to Biden’s comments in a Friday briefing with ABC News. “As much as we want divine intervention, it will elude us. So we have to act.”

In a preview of the contentious week ahead, 24 of the top Democrats on House committees joined a confidential virtual call with Jeffries, Minority Leader Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and caucus chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) on Sunday, where members were divided on whether to stand by or abandon Biden, according to three people on the call who, like others in the story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the party’s internal deliberations.

Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) — all the top Democrats on their respective committees — have been described as staunch advocates of eliminating Biden.

Reps. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) pushed back and fiercely defended Biden, saying his one bad debate night should not overshadow his historic presidency and vision for the future. They also noted that there is little evidence so far to prove he cannot defeat Trump.

“President Biden defeated Trump in 2020 and now, empowered by his record of success, he will do it again in November,” Neal said in a statement after the call. “Republicans are the greatest threat to the health of our democracy, our economy and our people, and the president knows what’s at stake. I’m with him all the way, fighting like hell to defeat these threats.”

Other Democrats began publicly criticizing their colleagues who leaked private meetings and grievances to reporters.

“Some people have spent more time in the last 10 days leaking more negativity and attacks on our own nominee than on his opponent. The election is 120 days away,” Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) posted on social media Sunday.

While Jeffries and his lieutenants have kept the defections at bay as they listen to frustrated colleagues vent, House Democrats and their top aides acknowledge that conversations over the next three days — including their weekly all-member meeting on Tuesday — will make clear Congress’s role during an unprecedented time.

“Whatever we decide, we need to do it in the next 48 hours because right now we’re in the worst of both worlds,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) told his colleagues on Sunday, according to a Democrat on the call.

Democratic senators, long the president’s strongest support base in Congress, have been quieter than their more vocal counterparts in the House. But behind the scenes, many senators share similar fears that Biden no longer has a path forward, according to several senators and aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the dynamics freely.

Warner, who has told people he believes Biden cannot defeat Trump, has quietly pushed the group to coalesce around a strategy to knock Biden out of the race. The Virginia Democrat’s tentative plan to gather senators for an in-person meeting to discuss Biden’s future appears to have been scrapped after news reports about the effort scrambled plans, one senator said. Instead, senators will likely discuss Biden at their regularly scheduled lunch on Tuesday.

Several senators said Sunday that time is of the essence.

“Right now, we’re kind of stuck in the mud where, despite the fact that we have a convicted felon running against us, all the talk is about the fitness of the president and we can’t just sit there,” Welch said. “So we have to move forward. So it’s either an extraordinary success on Biden’s part to get rid of the age issue — it’s very hard to see how that’s done — or we’ve botched a movement.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on CNN that this week will be “absolutely critical,” adding that the president’s interview with ABC News did not do enough to assuage people’s concerns. “I think the president needs to do more,” he said.

Other senators defended Biden.

“Biden is old,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 82, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “He’s not as articulate as he used to be. I wish he could walk up the steps of Air Force One. He can’t. What we have to focus on is policy. What policies have benefited and will benefit the vast majority of people in this country?”

Sanders said he would not attend a meeting of senators to discuss Biden’s future.

Many lawmakers remained concerned about the “what ifs” surrounding Biden: What if he has another moment of debate in the weeks after he officially becomes the Democratic nominee after the convention? What if he continues to decline if reelected and trails congressional candidates in the midterm elections two years from now? What if he fails to defeat Trump in November?

Some House Democrats are still weighing whether to speak out publicly, noting that feedback from local leaders and constituents has been mixed — some want their lawmakers to go public and call for Biden to step aside, and others argue that Biden should make the decision himself, without input from members of Congress. Some lawmakers also said their Washington offices have been fielding calls from constituents throughout the week with both views represented.

Only one thing is certain: the conversations about Hill will continue.

“The fear of having another Trump presidency, especially given how much more unhinged he’s been, is palpable. And so I think people will come together,” said Rep. Deborah Ross (D-N.C.).

Paul Kane contributed to this report.