As President Joe Biden flies back to Delaware from Las Vegas on Wednesday night, cutting his trip short after testing positive for COVID-19, he faces one of the most momentous decisions of his long political life: Should he heed the rising calls from his fellow Democrats to extinguish his bid for reelection?
For Biden, is it a new moment?
Even though anger and panic have been steadily rising inside the Democratic Party for nearly three weeks, after the president’s alarming debate performance in Atlanta, the White House and the Biden campaign are in a new place, multiple Democratic officials told CNN.
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“The private conversations with the Hill are continuing,” a senior Democratic adviser told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid alienating the campaign and the White House.
“He’s being receptive. Not as defiant as he is publicly,” the adviser said.
“He’s gone from saying, ‘Kamala can’t win,’ to ‘Do you think Kamala can win?’
“It’s still unclear where he’s going to land but seems to be listening.”
The Biden campaign, which is also facing a growing outcry from Democratic donors, dismissed the suggestion the president was rethinking his candidacy.
“If the facts matter — and they should — here is one: President Biden is the Democratic nominee and he is going to win this November,” Kevin Munoz, a Biden spokesman, told CNN.
The developments come at a crucial time for the Biden campaign. ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported earlier Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Biden on Saturday that it would be best if Biden bowed out of the presidential race.
In a statement responding to the ABC News reporting, a Schumer spokesperson said: “Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation. Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”
What that statement did not say, however, was three important words that Schumer has included every time he is asked whether Biden’s candidacy should proceed: “I’m with Joe.”
The private meeting between Schumer and Biden, which was held at the president’s beach house Saturday in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is seen by Democratic officials as one of the most important moments in this escalating drama.
Earlier Wednesday, Representative Adam Schiff, who’s running for Senate in California, became the latest high-profile member of Biden’s party to call on the president to exit the race, the first congressional Democrat to do so publicly following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
