U.S. President Joe Biden, in a letter to congressional Democrats, continued to stand firm against calls for him to drop his candidacy and called for an “end” to the intra-party drama that has torn apart Democrats about whether he should stay in the race.

In the two-page letter, Mr. Biden wrote that “the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end”. He stressed that the party has “one job” — defeating presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in November.

“We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election,” Mr. Biden said in the letter. “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It’s time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.” The letter was sent from the campaign to Democratic lawmakers as they return to Washington following the July 4 recess.

Should Biden stay or go?

Deeply torn over Mr. Biden’s candidacy, Democratic lawmakers return to Washington at a pivotal moment as they decide whether to work to revive his campaign or edge out the party leader, a make-or-break time for his reelection and their own political futures.

Anxiety is running high as top-ranking Democratic lawmakers are joining calls for Mr. Biden to step aside after his dismal debate performance and defiant response to the uproar.

At the same time, some of the President’s most staunch supporters insist there is no one better than Mr. Biden to beat Mr. Trump.

As lawmakers weigh whether Mr. Biden should stay or go, there appear to be no easy answers in sight. It is a tenuous and highly volatile juncture for the president’s party. Democrats who have worked alongside Mr. Biden for years — if not decades — and cherished his life’s work on policy priorities are now entertaining uncomfortable questions about his political future. And it’s unfolding as Mr. Biden hosts world leaders for the NATO summit this week in Washington.

Time is not on their side, almost a month from the Democratic National Convention and just a week before Republicans gather in Milwaukee to renominate Mr. Trump as their presidential pick. Many Democrats are arguing the attention needs to be focused instead on the former president’s felony conviction in the hush money case and pending federal charges in his effort to overturn the 2020 election.

It’s what Mr. Biden himself might call an inflection point. As he defiantly says he will only step aside if the Lord almighty comes and tells him to, Democrats in the House and Senate are deciding how hard they want to fight the president to change course, or if they want to change course at all.

Deepening divide

In an effort to “get on the same page”, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is convening lawmakers for private meetings before he shows his own preference, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. He plans to gather Democrats on Monday whose bids for reelection are most vulnerable.

But a private call on July 7 of some 15 top House committee members exposed the deepening divide as at least four more Democrats — Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state and Rep. Mark Takano of California — privately said Mr. Biden should step aside.

Mr. Nadler, as the most senior ranking member on the call, was the first person to speak up and say that Mr. Biden should step aside, according to a person familiar with the call who was granted anonymity to discuss it. He did so aware of his seniority and that it would allow others to join him.

Many others on the call raised concerns about Mr. Biden’s capability and chance of winning re-election, even if they stopped short of saying Mr. Biden should step out of the race.

Still other members, including Rep. Maxine Waters of California and Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, both leaders in the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke forcefully in support of Mr. Biden, as did Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

And several lawmakers appeared frustrated that leadership was not providing direction or a path forward, according to people familiar with the call. One Democratic lawmaker said regardless of the decision, the situation has to “end now”, one of the people said.

Mr. Neal said afterward that the bottom line is Mr. Biden defeated Mr. Trump in 2020 and “he’ll do it again in November”.

The upheaval also is testing a new generation of leaders, headed by Mr. Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Both New Yorkers have refrained from publicly directing lawmakers on a path forward as they balance diverse opinions in their ranks.

Behind the scenes is Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who continues to field calls from lawmakers seeking advice about the situation, and is widely viewed as the one to watch for any ultimate decision on Mr. Biden’s future because of her proximity to the president and vote-counting skills in party politics.

Ms. Pelosi spoke up last week, saying Mr. Biden’s debate performance raised “legitimate” questions he needed to answer, but she has remained supportive of the president. And Biden called her last week when he reached out to other party leaders.

When Biden’s prime-time ABC interview on Friday appeared to do little to calm worried Democrats, and some said made the situation worse, Ms. Pelosi stepped forward to publicly praise Mr. Biden on social media as a “great President who continues to deliver for America’s kitchen table.” She added, “and we’re not done yet!” Schumer has kept a lower profile throughout the ordeal but will convene Democratic senators Tuesday for their weekly lunch when senators are certain to air many views.

Another Democrat, Sen. Alex Padilla of California, said it was “time to quit the hand-wringing and get back to door knocking”. He spoke with Mr. Biden over the weekend, and urged his campaign to “let Joe be Joe”.

“Given the debate, I think the campaign has no choice,” he said on Sunday, explaining that Mr. Biden needs to hold town halls and unscripted events to show voters “the Joe Biden I know, and that most people in American have come to grow and love”.

Bigger impact on the election

While some deep-pocketed donors may be showing discomfort, strategists working on House and Senate races said they posted record fundraising as donors view congressional Democrats as a “firewall” and last line of defence against Mr. Trump.

House Democrats have had some of their better fundraising days yet, including a $3 million haul on Friday night after the debate at an event with former President Barack Obama and Jeffries in New York City. That’s on top of $1.3 million that rolled into the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the debate and its immediate aftermath.

Senate Democrats are also seeing a “surge” of support, according to a national Democrat with knowledge of Senate races.

As Democratic candidates campaign alongside Biden, the advice has been to focus on building their own brands and amplifying the way the work that’s done in Congress affects their local districts.

was:

Joe Biden’s presidential reelection bid hung in the balance Saturday after his latest efforts to put a disastrous debate showing behind him failed to silence voices urging him to quit the White House race.

Murmurs of dissent within his own Democratic Party have — in the case of five individual House representatives — morphed into direct calls for him to drop out. And a number of key donors have threatened to cut off funding if Biden insists on staying the course.

“I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,” Angie Craig, the latest House Democrat to break ranks, said Saturday.

The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has scheduled a virtual meeting of senior Democrat representatives for Sunday to discuss the best way forward, and Democrat Senator Mark Warner is reportedly working to convene a similar forum in the upper chamber.

In what had been billed as a make-or-break TV interview on Friday, Biden’s strategy was to flatly deny the falling poll numbers and concerns over his mental and physical fitness triggered by his dismal performance against rival Donald Trump.

He blamed a severe cold for the debate debacle and insisted it was just a “bad night” rather than evidence of increasing frailty and cognitive decline. And the 81-year-old was adamant that he would not be pressured to end his campaign.

“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” he said. “But the Lord Almighty is not coming down.”

Calls for less divine intervention do, however, appear to be strengthening.

Internal dissent

Biden’s campaign team is pushing ahead regardless, with two events planned in Pennsylvania on Sunday and visits to other battleground states later in the month.

At a rally in Wisconsin before Friday’s interview, Biden had delivered a forceful, energetic stump speech, unequivocally declaring, “I’m staying in the race. I’ll beat Donald Trump.”

Then came the sit-down with the ABC network that appeared unlikely to soothe the concerns of critics who say that — away from a teleprompter — Biden can struggle to communicate.

Some of his answers were tentative, meandering and difficult to follow, even as he sought to deflect questions about his mental acuity and dismissed the notion that his party would consider replacing him.

The Biden campaign had another small fire to put out Saturday after it emerged that the White House had provided the questions for interviews the president gave to two Black radio stations on Friday.

Out of touch?

Democratic strategist David Axelrod suggested in a CNN op-ed that Biden is engaged in “Denial. Delusion. Defiance.”

“The stakes are as great as Biden describes. And if he believes it, as I think he does, he will eventually do what duty and love of country requires, and step aside,” Axelrod wrote in the piece published Saturday.

“If he does not, it will be Biden’s age, and not Trump’s moral and ethical void, that will dominate the rest of this most important campaign and sully the president’s historic legacy.”

Trump, meanwhile, sarcastically suggested Biden should “ignore his many critics and move forward, with alacrity and strength.”

“He should be sharp, precise and energetic, just like he was in The Debate,” the Republican challenger said in a social media post Saturday.

For now, Democrats are largely keeping a lid on any simmering discontent with their leader — at least in public.

But with election day just four months away, any move to replace Biden as nominee would need to be made sooner rather than later, and the meetings of top Congressional Democrats in coming days will be scrutinized for any signs of more open rebellion.

Meanwhile, for Biden and his campaign team, the strategy seems to be to ride it out.

His next major test will be a press conference scheduled for Thursday during the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington.

When pressed in the ABC interview on why he doesn’t take an independent neurological exam, Biden argued that the role of US president meant being subjected to constant mental assessment.

“I have a cognitive test every single day,” he said. “Not only am I campaigning, I’m running the world.” 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to the press with New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Maryland Governor Wes Moore after attending a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and other Democratic governors at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Democratic governors of New York, Minnesota and Maryland on Wednesday said they would support U.S. President Joe Biden’s reelection bid after a candid discussion with him about his weak performance in last week’s debate.

“The president has always had our backs. We’re going to have his back as well,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore told reporters after a meeting with Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House that included 24 Democratic governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C., some joining online.

Mr. Moore said the governors were frank in relaying negative feedback from constituents about Mr. Biden’s poor performance during the debate with Republican rival Donald Trump. He said there was clearly work to do before the Nov. 5 election, but Biden had made it clear he would stay in the race.

“The president… he’s our nominee. The president is our party leader,” Mr. Moore said. There has been growing talk among Democrats in recent days that 81-year-old Biden should drop out of the race.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she felt confident after the meeting and all the governors pledged their support to Mr. Biden. The president is “in it to win it,” she said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said Mr. Biden’s debate performance on Thursday was bad but he felt Mr. Biden was fit for office.

“Obviously we, like many Americans, are a little worried. We’re worried because the threat of a Trump presidency is not theoretical,” Mr. Walz said, adding that the previous Trump presidency was marked by “chaos, destruction.”

Nearly a dozen of the State leaders attended the meeting in person, but only three spoke with reporters afterwards.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who participated in person, posted his reaction on social platform X: “I heard three words from the President tonight — he’s all in. And so am I.”

Mr. Biden’s campaign said the president reiterated his determination “to defeat the existential threat of Donald Trump at the ballot box in November” and discussed the importance of electing Democrats up and down the ballot.

“All participants reiterated their shared commitment to do everything possible to make sure President Biden and Vice President Harris beat Donald Trump in November,” it said.

File picture of U.S. President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday acknowledged his performance during the June 27 presidential debate wasn’t his best, but blamed it on jet lag after two overseas trips earlier in June.

Mr. Biden has faced mounting questions about his 2024 reelection bid after last week’s shaky debate performance, with one House of Representatives fellow Democrat on Tuesday publicly calling on him to withdraw from the race.

Speaking at a campaign event in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday evening, Mr. Biden admitted the debate against former President Donald Trump, his Republican rival, did not go well.

“I didn’t have my best night, but the fact is that you know, I wasn’t very smart,” Mr. Biden said, speaking at the campaign fundraiser without the aid of a teleprompter. “I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones… before… the debate.

“Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage,” he said. “That’s no excuse but it is an explanation.”

Mr. Biden traveled to France and Italy during two separate trips in the space of two weeks last month, flying overnight from the Group of Seven summit in Bari, Italy, to appear at a fundraiser with former President Barack Obama in Los Angeles on June 15 before returning to Washington the following day.

He then spent six days at Camp David preparing for the June 27 debate.

White House officials have blamed Mr. Biden’s halting performance during the debate on a cold. Mr. Biden did not mention being sick during Tuesday’s fundraiser.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday showed that one in three Democrats think Mr. Biden should end his reelection bid following the debate, but no prominent elected Democrat does any better than Mr. Biden in a hypothetical matchup against Mr. Trump.

The two-day poll found that both Mr. Trump, 78, and Mr. Biden, 81, maintain the support of 40% of registered voters, suggesting that Mr. Biden has not lost ground since the debate. Election Day is November 5.