Live updates: Biden grabs more support to fight Trump in Nov. election – USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – House Democrats weren’t out for blood on Tuesday as a debate rages in the party over whether President Joe Biden should stay in the 2024 presidential election – but concerns remain following a critical, closed-door meeting between members.
An example: Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told reporters that he believes Biden is a great president but declined to say whether he also thinks the 81-year-old incumbent is the best candidate for Democrats to defeat former President Donald Trump this fall.
“He’s the nominee,” McGovern said when asked if Biden is the strongest Democratic option. “I think if he’s the candidate, we will prevail.”
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.
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.
Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s live coverage.
After Joe Biden’s rocky debate performance last month, some political observers are wondering if there will be a second debate between Biden and Donald Trump at all. If all goes as planned, the political rivals will have their second presidential debate in just over nine weeks.
ABC News will host the presidential candidates as they face off for a final time on Sept. 10, moderated by anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, but a location has yet to be confirmed.
Qualifications for the second debate are similar to the first, including candidates receiving at least 15% in four separate national polls, appearing on enough state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold, and agreeing to accept the debate’s rules and format, which have yet to be announced.
– Victor Hagan
We currently have the oldest president in U.S. history. There’s a minimum age to run for president, but there isn’t a maximum, as evidenced by the past two commanders in chief. Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump set the record for the oldest elected president during their respective terms.
President Biden is 81 years old. He was born on Nov. 20, 1942 and is part of the Silent Generation, the generation that precedes baby boomers.
– Claire Mulroy
Nate Silver, political pollster and founder of FiveThirtyEight, called for Joe Biden to hand the presidency over to Vice President Kamala Harris before the November election after his defiant and first post-debate television interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week.
When Stephanopoulos asked Biden about polls showing his low approval ratings and poor chances of beating former President Donald Trump this fall, Biden said “The New York Times had me down 10 points before the debate, 9 now, whatever the hell it is.”
Silver posted a clip of the Biden’s remarks to social media and called it a “pretty incoherent answer,” adding that the Times had him down three or four points before the debate. Trump now leads Biden by six points, according to the Times-Siena College poll.
“I wimped out in today’s column and deleted a line saying he should formulate a plan to transition the presidency to Harris within 30-60 days, but I’m there now. Something is clearly wrong here,” Silver said in a follow-up post on X, formerly Twitter. “The most generous way to put it is that he doesn’t seem in command, and that’s an extremely hard sell when you’re Commander in Chief.”
– Rachel Barber
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
Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., who recently left the Democratic Party said Tuesday that it’s “crucial week” for
“Seeing what happens this week — there are going to be polls coming out, there are going to be senators that are up in very tough areas for re-election and they’re going to have their input — so we’ll just have to digest to see what comes out,” Manchin said.
If the polls keep showing Biden struggling? “You’re speaking in hypotheticals,” he responded, saying everyone will know more by the end of the week. “Basically we’re to the point where it’s, do you stick with plan A or is there a plan B? We don’t know.”
– Riley Beggin
A new poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris could beat Donald Trump in November, while President Joe Biden trails the presumptive Republican nominee.
The Bendixen & Amandi Inc. national poll of 1,000 people conducted this month found Harris leads Trump 42% to 41%, with 12% undecided and 3% going to third-party candidates. Biden, however, was one point down to Trump, 42% to 43%, with 10% undecided and 3% going to third-party candidates. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
—Rachel Barber and Francesca Chambers
A Democratic senator who faces a tough 2024 reelection campaign in the otherwise red state of Ohio told reporters on Monday that he’s hearing from voters who are indeed concerned about Biden continuing his presidential run.
“I’m not going to judge people in my party, what they’re saying or what Republicans are saying,” Sen. Sherrod Brown told reporters in Youngstown, according to his campaign. “I’m not a pundit. I’ve talked to people across Ohio. They have legitimate questions about whether the president should continue his campaign, and I’ll keep listening to people.”
Brown has been reluctant to wade into presidential politics as he runs this November for a fourth term against GOP businessman Bernie Moreno. The senator is one of two Democrats running in a state Trump won in 2020, making him one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the country.
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, 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
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
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
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
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
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
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