During a group call with Democratic governors on Monday, July 1, 2024, to discuss whether President Biden should step aside after his debate performance last week, Governor Maura Healey stated that she informed White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients that the president’s political position was “irretrievable” following last week’s debate, the New York Times reported.
After The New York Times reported this, Governor Healey clarified her position in the following statement issued on July 5, 2024:
“President Biden saved our democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years. I am deeply grateful for his leadership. And I know he agrees this is the most important election of our lifetimes,” she said. “The best way forward right now is a decision for the President to make. Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump.”
President Biden has been doing some damage control as well. On Wednesday, July 3, 2024, he held a meeting at the White House with a group of Democratic governors – many of whom were at the Monday meeting – to inform them that he hasn’t been getting enough sleep and needs to stop attending events after 8 p.m. The New York Times reported that President Biden also told the governors that he intends on staying in the race.
During the meeting Wednesday, President Biden described his extensive foreign travel in the weeks before the debate, which the White House and his allies have recently cited as the reason for the president’s lackluster debate performance. Initially, President Biden’s campaign attributed his performance to a cold, releasing this explanation halfway through the debate amidst a flurry of social media posts questioning his performance. In the weeks leading up to the debate, President Biden took two foreign trips, followed by a week of debate preparation at Camp David with a group of advisers.
These remarks were intended to reassure those in the Democratic Party who have been openly calling for the president to step aside following his debate performance last week.
During the debate, the 81-year-old’s age-related memory loss made him appear less cognizant than Trump; at one point, President Biden blanked out while responding to a question, and at other times, he struggled to provide a retort.
More: Gaffes and Golf: The Debate That Left America Scratching Its Head
The New York Times reported that some of the governors who participated in the meeting at the White House Wednesday were disappointed that there wasn’t more debate about whether the President Biden should continue his presidency. Many of those who expressed concern during the call on Monday – including Governor Healey – said nothing to the president about the matter during the meeting at the White House Wednesday.
However, there were those who spoke out. According to The New York Times, Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a strong supporter of Biden, asked early in the meeting about the president’s plan moving forward in the campaign.
Toward the end of the meeting, Governor Jared Polis of Colorado, who attended virtually, informed the president that he had heard many people expressing a desire for him to end his campaign.
Two other governors, Janet Mills of Maine and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, also voiced concerns. Mills mentioned that people doubted Biden’s ability to run, while Lujan Grisham expressed concern that the president could lose her state.
On Thursday, Representative Seth Moulton, a Democrat who represents Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District and former presidential hopeful, publicly called for President Biden to step aside.
In 2019, after receiving support from the Democratic establishment as a potential presidential candidate for the 2020 nomination, Rep. Moulton announced his candidacy in April, traveled to early primary states, and withdrew from the race in August of that year.
Moulton is the third member of Congress, and the first from the Massachusetts delegation, to urge President Biden to end his campaign for another term.
“President Biden has done enormous service to our country, but now is the time for him to follow in one of our founding father, George Washington’s footsteps and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump,” Rep. Moulton told The Washington Post.
Healey’s comments during the Monday Governor’s meeting and Moulton’s announcement that he should step-aside reflect a growing consensus among the Democratic establishment.
According to the Boston Globe, wealthy donors are collaborating to prepare for the potential of a new candidate stepping in. Some, like Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, have publicly expressed their desire to see a new candidate atop the ticket.
Significant support has coalesced around Vice President Kamala Harris. She would be the top alternative if Biden were to step down, senior sources at the Biden campaign, the White House, and the Democratic National Committee told Reuters.
A recent CNN poll found that a Harris-Trump matchup would be a toss-up, with Harris having a better chance of defeating Trump than Biden.
Other names tossed around to replace President Biden have been New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
