Biden vows to continue fighting Trump while campaigning
President Joe Biden spoke to his supporters in Pennsylvania after his rocky debate performance against Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON – It’s another big day on Capitol Hill as House and Senate Democrats sit down for separate family meetings to air their differences over whether they should demand that President Joe Biden step aside as the party’s presumptive nominee and abandon his 2024 bid for a second term.
The early read: the incumbent Democratic president may indeed be shoring up the support he needs to hang on.
“Good discussion, but at the end of the day the voters chose Biden as their nominee,” Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., told reporters after the session, noting the people who participated in the 2024 Democratic primaries had enough information about the 81-year-old president when they supported him.
Critics of Biden exited the meeting unconvinced. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the Texas Democrat who was first elected congressman to speak publicly in support of Biden stepping aside, told reporters his biggest concern about 2024 is “that while he’s convinced everyone who was in that room that he has been a great president, there are too many people in the battleground states who have not been convinced, and the debate didn’t advance us there.”
Biden has already publicly lost the support of more than a handful of prominent or vulnerable Democrats since his stumbling debate performance that raised new concerns among voters about whether he can defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
Most grumbling about his performance has occurred quietly or off the record, but the meetings on Tuesday – House Democrats in the morning and Senate Democrats in the afternoon – are the first time for members to air their opinions in a more open session since last month’s Biden-Trump showdown.
Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., told USA TODAY after the Houe meeting that vulnerable members voiced concerns about their ability to win with Biden at the top of the ticket “I think these conversations were necessary,” he said. “This was the first chance we really had an opportunity to, to air that out and to hear from some of the members from purple states and some members who are in very, very tight races.”
Several top Democrats returning to Washington on Monday issued statements or spoke directly to reporters suggesting they want to see a vigorous Biden out on the campaign trail doing unscripted interviews and chatting informally with voters to demonstrate he is fit for the upcoming election. Some have said Biden has a week, perhaps two, to change minds.
Biden has doubled down on his refusal to step aside. He sent a public letter on Monday to congressional Democrats, saying that he has secured the delegates necessary to be nominated and that he still believes he is the only person who can win against Trump.
House Democrats stand by Biden despite internal dissension
As Democratic members leave a caucus meeting at the DNC this morning, most are publicly stating their support for President Joe Biden.They largely acknowledge there was not consensus in the meeting but maintain that Biden was the candidate chosen by voters — and that he will beat former President Donald Trump in November.— Riley Beggin
Jon Stewart slams Democrats for not considering other candidates
Jon Stewart, the host of ‘The Daily Show,’ called out Democrats for not pursuing other candidates after Biden’s rocky first debate performance and said four months is enough time to find a replacement for him on the party’s November ticket.
“Can’t we open up the conversation? Do you understand the opportunity here?” Stewart said in his monologue Monday. “Do you have any idea how thirsty Americans are for any hint of inspiration or leadership, and a release from this choice between a megalomaniac and a suffocating gerontocracy?”
—Rachel Barber
Nadler says he will support Biden after calling for him to drop out
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., on Tuesday reversed his previous stance that President Joe Biden should step aside as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“Whether or not I have concerns is besides the point. He is going to be our nominee and we all have to support him,” Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told reporters.
On Sunday, Nadler during a private call with top House Democrats said 81-year-old Biden should exit the presidential race against Donald Trump. Reps. Adam Smith of Washington, Mark Takano of California and Joe Morelle of New York, also said Biden should exit the 2024 presidential race.
Biden on Monday sent a letter to congressional Democrats on Monday saying that he would not drop out of the 2024 race.
While Nadler declined to comment on his remarks on the call, he said that Democrats have to stand by Biden.
“I am not going to comment on what I said in a private meeting, but what I will say is the president made very clear yesterday that he’s running and for me that’s positive. We have to support him,” Nadler said.
– Rebecca Morin
Lara Trump says Democrats are in disarray
Republican National Committee Co-Chair Lara Trump said the GOP has never been more united while the Democratic party is “fractured” and in “disarray” ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week.
“You have never seen a more united Republican party than we have right now, and it is in stark contrast to what is going on on the other side of the aisle,” Trump told Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt Tuesday. “They are fractured. They are in disarray on the Democrats’ side of the aisle, talking about whether they have to get rid of Joe Biden.”
—Rachel Barber
Parkinson disease expert’s recent trips to White House not to meet with president
President Joe Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his three annual physicals since entering the White House, his physician said in a letter Monday night, clarifying that recent trips to the White House by an expert on Parkinson’s disease weren’t to meet with the president.
The letter from Dr. Kevin O’Connor followed reports from USA TODAY and others on Dr. Kevin Cannard, an expert on Parkinson’s disease, who visited the White House eight times during an eight-month period − including once with O’Connor, the president’s physician − according to official visitor logs.
Cannard serves as the neurology specialist supporting the White House Medical Unit. His White House visits included one meeting with O’Connor and two others at the White House residence clinic on Jan. 17, the New York Post first reported.
–Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Joey Garrison and Sudiksha Kochi
Biden ‘can’t win’ in November, Illinois Democrat says
One of the six House Democrats who is publicly calling for Biden to leave the 2024 race doubled down on his views about the president’s chances in November when heading into an important closed-door party meeting Tuesday morning just off Capitol Hill.
“He can’t win,” Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said of Biden. The eight-term lawmaker who represents a Chicago-based district also took issue with Biden’s push back in writing to congressional Democrats on Monday that he wasn’t dropping out of the race. “A dismissive letter is not going to change any minds.”
— Darren Samuelsohn
Congressional Hispanic Caucus throws support behind Biden
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus released a statement Monday affirming their support for President Joe Biden.
“We stand with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris,” caucus chair Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., and deputy caucus chair Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said in the statement.
“President Biden and his Administration have worked closely with House Democrats to make historic investments to positively impact communities across the country, including Latinos, such as investments to combat climate change, lower healthcare costs, expand access to healthcare for our veterans and create jobs with the Infrastructure bill,” the group added.
–Sudiksha Kochi
Mark Warner backs off secret meeting, still skeptical of Biden
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., had reportedly tried to organize a meeting with Democratic senators about President Joe Biden’s status as the presumptive nominee in the November election.
On Monday, after news of that meeting leaked and members of Congress returned to Capitol Hill, Warner appeared to soften his stance. The reported meeting was canceled in favor of a discussion during the Senate Democratic Caucus’ regular lunch on Tuesday, and Warner issued a softer but still skeptical statement about Biden on his X account Monday.
In that post, Warner argued that another term under former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, would be “perilous for rule of law and for our democracy.”
“President Biden has made America stronger, guiding the nation through some of our most difficult days,” Warner wrote.
“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward. As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House,” he said in the post.
–Elizabeth Beyer
AOC throws her support behind Biden
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told reporters Monday that she supports President Joe Biden’s decision to stay in the 2024 race.
“I have spoken with him extensively. He made clear then and he has made clear since that he is still in this race. The matter is closed,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “He had reiterated that this morning. He has reiterated that to the public. Joe Biden is our nominee. He is not leaving this race. He is in this race and I support him.”
Ocasio-Cortez, a member of “The Squad” made up of progressive congressional Democrats, said she’s communicated to Biden that what he needs to do to win in November is “increasingly commit to the issues that are critically important to working people across this country.”
–Sudiksha Kochi
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Monday that Biden still hasn’t proven he is up for the job to defeat Republican rival Donald Trump, suggesting the incumbent Democrat must consider dropping out of the 2024 race to “preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future.”
Murray is the highest ranking member of the Senate to indicate she needs to see more from Biden if he is going to be the party’s nominee.
“More than a week since the debate, and after talking with my constituents, I believe President Biden must do more to demonstrate he can campaign strong enough to beat Donald Trump,” Murray, a six-term veteran of the Senate who serves as the upper chamber’s president pro tempore, said in a statement.
Barring a very messy intra-party revolt, the Democratic presidential nomination is Biden’s to accept – or decline. And so far the president has pushed back on growing calls for his exit with seemingly no intention yet of stepping away.
If Biden were to change his mind and drop his bid for reelection, focus would then turn to finding a replacement for the top of the ticket. Vice President Kamala Harris, already first in line for the presidency, is a favored candidate for the position.
– Savannah Kuchar
Joe Biden has slipped further behind Donald Trump in most polls taken since the two faced off last month in the first 2024 presidential debate.
According to an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University survey conducted immediately after the debate, Trump edged ahead of Biden 41% to 38%. Prior to the debate debacle, the two contenders were tied at 37% of the vote.
A recent New York Times and Siena College poll found that Trump’s lead against Biden increased by 3% after the debate
– Elizabeth Beyer and Karissa Waddick
Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/09/joe-biden-2024-election-race-trump-live-updates/74332791007/
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Publish date : 2024-07-09 11:45:00
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