By Sam Cabral and Brandon Drenon, BBC News, Washington
Getty ImagesJoe Biden’s campaign has been thrust into a pressure cooker of doubt, as panic and worry about his election chances pour in from the highest levels of the Democratic party.
In recent days, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have all reportedly expressed concerns in private to Mr Biden about his candidacy.
Even his former running mate, former President Barack Obama, has reportedly said Mr Biden’s chances of winning the election have greatly diminished.
A 6 July letter from high-ranking congressman Jamie Raskin was made public on Thursday, where the Maryland representative compared the president to a baseball pitcher whose arm has “tired out”.
Mr Biden, 81, has repeatedly and defiantly declared he is “not going anywhere”, urging his party to refocus on the task of defeating Donald Trump.
But the calls to exit are nearing a crescendo as Democratic politicians, donors and voters speak out against the president’s candidacy.
Who wants Biden to go?
Lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol are coming out in growing numbers against the idea of Mr Biden staying in the race.
It began five days after the June 27 debate with Lloyd Doggett, a 15-term Texas congressman, who said that it was time for Mr Biden to “make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw”.
Mr Doggett, 77, who sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, said he respected “all that President Biden has achieved” but that the Democrat had failed to “effectively defend his many accomplishments” on the debate stage.
Only three members of the Senate have so far publicly called for Mr Biden to drop out. They are Peter Welch of Vermont, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Montana’s Jon Tester, who is fighting for re-election.
They have been joined by House colleagues including the likes of Adam Schiff, California’s likely next senator, and several members in tight re-election races of their own. The others are:
- Raul Grijalva of Arizona
- Seth Moulton of Massachusetts
- Mike Quigley of Illinois
- Angie Craig of Minnesota
- Adam Smith of Washington
- Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey
- Pat Ryan of New York
- Earl Blumenauer of Oregon
- Hillary Scholten of Michigan
- Brad Schneider of Illinois
- Ed Case of Hawaii
- Greg Stanton of Arizona
- Jim Himes of Connecticut
- Scott Peters of California
- Eric Sorensen of Illinois
- Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state
- Mike Levin of California
- Brittany Pettersen of Colorado
- Jim Costa of California
- Sean Casten of Illinois
- Jared Huffman of California
- Marc Veasey of Texas
- Chuy Garcia of Illinois
- Mark Pocan of Wisconsin
- Greg Landsman of Ohio
- Zoe Lofgren of California
Other prominent figures have also joined the growing chorus:
- New York Lt Gov Antonio Delgado, a former member of the House of Representatives, said Mr Biden “can add to his legacy, showing his strength and grace, by ending his campaign”.
- Ex-Ohio congressman Tim Ryan, former housing secretary Julian Castro and self-help guru Marianne Williamson – all former primary opponents of Mr Biden – have called on him to withdraw.
- George Clooney, the Hollywood actor and major party fundraiser, said in The New York Times that Mr Biden could not beat time. His article was titled: “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.”
- Disney heiress Abigail Disney, another megadonor, said she was suspending donations to Democrats “unless and until they replace Biden at the top of the ticket”.
What are others saying?
Senior Democrats, including party leaders in Washington, have parsed their tongues in public on whether Mr Biden should continue his 2024 bid.
Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, had previously declined to directly answer whether she wanted him to keep running. She did so on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the president’s favourite news programme.
“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said, adding that “time is running short” for him to make that call.
CNN reported that since then, Mrs Pelosi had met with Mr Biden privately and told him that polls show he cannot win in November. She later slammed the reporting as a “feeding frenzy”, but did not deny that a conversation with Mr Biden had taken place.
Her replacement as House Democratic chief, Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have reportedly also met Mr Biden to privately express both their concerns about his ability to win re-election and the potential impact of his candidacy on Democratic hopes of controlling the House and Senate.
Many politicians have declined to outright call for Mr Biden’s removal, while expressing respect for his record and raising concerns over his campaign’s poor standing.
Patty Murray, of Washington state, said Mr Biden “must do more to demonstrate he can campaign strong enough to beat Donald Trump”. Michael Bennet, of Colorado, warned that Mr Trump was on track to win “by a landslide, and take with him the Senate and the House”. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has also publicly aired her doubts since the debate.
But the president is not without his backers.
Vice-President Kamala Harris has not wavered in standing by her boss, as have potential replacement candidates such as Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, and his Michigan and Maryland contemporaries Gretchen Whitmer and Wes Moore.
Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has continued to defend Mr Biden, telling MSNBC “we’ve got to stop the nitpicking”.
The powerful Congressional Black Caucus, which represents about one quarter of House Democrats, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have recently reaffirmed their backing for Mr Biden.
More than 1,400 black women backing the Biden-Harris ticket, including former DNC chairwoman Donna Brazile and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, wrote an open letter to reiterate their support.
Also standing by Mr Biden, and enthusiastically so, are outspoken figures on the Hill such as two-time presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota firebrand Ilhan Omar, and John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania senator.
