Along with other congressional leaders, Jeffries has come face to face with Biden at critical moments — during negotiations on how to avoid a debt ceiling collapse and while sending critical aid to foreign allies — and casually at House Democratic retreats. But the aspiring Speaker of the House has never met with the president to discuss the sensitive and consequential issue of whether House Democrats believe Biden can defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
The meeting was disclosed by Jeffries in a letter he sent to House Democrats on Friday morning and comes after a week in which he listened carefully to each faction of a diverse caucus before delivering his assessment to Biden.
“On behalf of the House Democratic Caucus, I requested and was graciously granted a private meeting with President Joe Biden,” Jeffries said in the letter. “In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insights, candid perspectives, and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus shared in our recent time together.”
But Jeffries did not offer further details and did not say publicly what kind of message he delivered to the president, an omission his office said was intentional. He has previously expressed personal support for Biden but has not made any statements about the position of House Democrats.
“The letter sent by Leader Hakeem Jeffries to his fellow House Democrats speaks for itself. It was a private conversation that will remain private,” said Christie Stephenson, Jeffries’ communications director.
But concerns on Capitol Hill from all corners of an often volatile caucus had been mounting all week, as even some of Biden’s staunchest supporters expressed doubts about his ability to win reelection. Publicly and privately, there was widespread panic among politically vulnerable members about what some saw as the inevitability of their ship sinking with Biden in November.
Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, also told reporters on Friday that he would not provide a readout of the private conversation. But he said he believed “Chairman Jeffries and others have made it clear that they continue to support the president” and that they “understand that the president is running.”
Meanwhile, Biden met virtually with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday afternoon. During the meeting, Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, who represents a swing district in California, urged Biden to step aside “for the good of his constituents and the country” after hearing concerns from his constituents, according to three people familiar with the call.
In response, Biden said he understood the concerns many may have about his age and why he must prove himself to lawmakers and the public.
“That’s why I’m going out and letting people touch me, poke me, ask me questions,” Biden said, according to a person familiar with his comments. “It’s a legitimate concern for people, but that’s why I think it’s important for me to go out and show people everything from how well I move to how much I know, and that I’m still in charge.”
Publicly, Jeffries has said he supports the president. He has not coordinated with or publicly echoed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who told “Morning Joe” this week that it was Biden’s “decision” whether to run again, despite the fact that the president has made clear he has already decided to move forward with his campaign.
Notably, Rep. James E. Clyburn (S.C.), one of the House’s most respected Democrats whose endorsement proved pivotal to Biden’s 2020 campaign, said on NBC’s “Today” show on Friday that he enthusiastically supports the president and urged Democrats to focus on promoting the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration. But he notably left the door open to a potential change at the top of the ticket, mirroring Pelosi.
“If he decides to change his mind later, then we will respond to that,” Clyburn said. “We have until August 19th to open our convention. And then I hope we spend our time now focusing on the record that we will make to the American people.”
As of Friday morning, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Biden had not spoken since their only call last week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Several lawmakers and aides who attended several meetings Jeffries held this week painted a grim picture of Biden’s position. The same widespread concerns were echoed in those meetings and heard not only by Jeffries but also by his lieutenants — Minority Leader Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.).
In several of those meetings, Jeffries told lawmakers he would listen and ultimately convey their views to Biden, according to two people familiar with the comments.
On Friday afternoon, 21 House Democrats called on Biden to drop out of the race, citing several reasons why they believe the party leader is too weak to defeat Trump in November. One senator — Pete Welch (D-Vt.) — made the same argument.
Of those 21, only five spoke out against Biden after his Thursday night news conference, which congressional Democrats have said all week would serve as a barometer for deciding whether he should speak publicly.
The handful of public detractors among the 264 House Democrats is relatively small and — as of Friday afternoon — certainly does not represent the cascade of lawmakers who some have privately predicted might call for Biden’s ouster after the NATO summit ends on Friday.
But the small public numbers belie the significantly larger number of House Democrats who remain deeply concerned that Biden and his campaign have no path to victory, according to several House Democrats and aides familiar with the concerns.
That anxiety reflects widespread panic that remaining the president at the top of the ticket could seriously hurt House Democrats’ chances of retaking the majority. Jeffries had high hopes of becoming speaker because Democrats need to gain just four seats to regain the majority.
Now that the NATO summit is over, Biden and his campaign are ramping up their outreach to key Democratic constituencies. Biden is scheduled to meet with the CHC, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus between Friday and Saturday afternoon.
“Is there still anxiety? Yes. We understand that. The president understands that. That’s why we continue to engage with people at the Capitol,” Tyler said Friday aboard Air Force One.
One thing seems clear: House Democrats disagree on a path forward, divided over the extent to which they define the moment as bigger than Biden. Those with deep concerns about his electability say privately that the president must recognize that preserving democracy and ensuring that Trump does not retake the White House are beyond his personal ambitions. Those firmly in Biden’s corner say Democrats must immediately rally behind him to avoid losing sight of Trump’s defeat and his agenda.
Jeffries and other lawmakers are digesting recent national polls and their own internal campaign data, according to several lawmakers and aides, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity. to discuss private deliberations.
Sentiment among House Democrats has fluctuated from day to day this week — and depending on which corner of the caucus.
But a telling shift occurred midweek as Biden’s support began to erode within the CBC, a roughly 60-member group called the “conscience of Congress” and seen as the backbone of his support. The concerns, echoing those of other lawmakers, centered on pressuring Biden’s orbit to make changes to staff aimed at better listening to lawmakers about how to best message voters in their districts — and ensuring the president does not lose support in battleground states.
While not shared by all members of the group, the CBC’s general support for Biden has also tested Jeffries, who has immense respect for the bloc as a CBC member.
House Democrats met behind closed doors on Tuesday morning for nearly two hours in a conversation that was described by several people familiar with it as somber, frank and emotional. The views ranged from urging the party to unite or risk appearing unable to govern, to grave concerns about the chances of regaining the majority with Biden as his running mate.
No consensus was reached at that meeting, nor when members left Washington on Thursday. But several lawmakers and others familiar with their thinking privately described a political paralysis that may not be shaken any time soon.
That stagnation persisted on Friday, well after Biden’s press conference, where he demonstrated fluidity on foreign policy but made some verbal errors.
The paralysis, one lawmaker said, felt as if Democrats were “marching toward death,” believing it was inevitable that Biden would lose to Trump.
Support within the Hispanic Caucus, which contains 42 lawmakers, remained fluid. Only Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) and now Levin have said Biden will lose if he stays in the race. There is a split between those who publicly support Biden, those who say they will continue to watch the president on the campaign trail before making judgments, and those who have not publicly weighed in.
Jeffries held two meetings this week with Democrats in competitive seats who were incredibly tough on Biden. The meetings were described as intense and honest, according to multiple people familiar with them. The members were unequivocal that Biden needed to step aside, or ultimately risk his reelection chances and possibly prevent Jeffries from becoming speaker of a Democratic House.
Some argued that they would automatically be in better political shape if Vice President Harris became the nominee, because she would immediately eliminate the age issue and help Democrats refocus on Trump.
Jeffries also met with the leadership team of the New Democratic Coalition, which represents nearly 100 liberal Democrats and pragmatic moderates, who shared concerns that deep divisions were undermining the party itself and its ability to defeat Trump. The team urged the minority leader to help shift attention back to Trump ahead of the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee, which begins Sunday.
