Senate Democrats will not meet on Monday to discuss future support for President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, despite Sen. Mark Warner’s (D-Va.) attempt to gather colleagues to chart a path forward, Axios reported on Sunday.
Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, reportedly began reaching out to fellow Democrats last week following Biden’s disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump. Some senators — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — have reiterated their support for Biden after his appearance, but many in the chamber have remained quiet.
Axios said leaks about Warner’s efforts hampered any chance of having a private conversation about how the party could best move forward before next month’s Democratic National Convention. Senators will return to Washington on Tuesday after a two-week break and Democrats will hold a regularly scheduled caucus meeting that day.
Warner’s team would not confirm or deny to The Washington Post on Friday that the lawmaker was seeking to have Biden drop out.
“Like many other people in Washington and across the country, Senator Warner believes these are critical days for the president’s campaign, and he has made that clear to the White House,” a spokeswoman told the Post at the time.
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The news comes amid troubling conversations for the president in the House. Several senior Democrats in the chamber reportedly told colleagues Biden should withdraw from the race and have discussed how to leverage their political power to convince him to do so. The private meeting this weekend was convened by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
The New York Times notes those who said Biden should end his campaign included Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Joesph Morelle (N.Y.). All serve as ranking members of powerful House committees.
Still, the Biden White House remains in damage control and the president has defiantly maintained he will remain in the race.
“If you are told reliably from your allies, from your friends and supporters in the Democratic Party, in the House, in the Senate that they’re concerned you’re going to lose the House and in the Senate if you stay in, what will you do?” ABC News host George Stephanopoulos asked Biden on Friday.
“I’m not going to answer that question,” the president replied. “It’s not going to happen.”
