Congressional Democrats on Wednesday continued a slow trickle of comments suggesting their uneasiness with President Biden remaining in the presidential race, with top party officials indicating that he still has time to drop out.
The subtle campaign to prod the 81-year-old Mr. Biden to rethink his decision kicked off early Wednesday with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s curious response in an MSNBC interview when asked if she supports the president continuing to head the Democratic ticket.
“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” the California Democrat said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short.”
The pressure on Mr. Biden also increased with Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont on Wednesday becoming the first Democratic senator to call for the president to quit his reelection campaign.
Mr. Biden had sent a letter to congressional Democrats on Monday saying he is “firmly committed” to remaining in the race and urged them to unite behind his campaign to beat former President Donald Trump.
“Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us,” he wrote.
When pressed about Mr. Biden already making his decision and whether she wants him to remain in the race, Mrs. Pelosi did not show the resolve the president requested.
“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said. “And that’s the way it is; whatever he decides we go with.”
Democrats saw Mrs. Pelosi’s comments as a signal that Mr. Biden’s decision need not be final.
Some took a similar approach to Mrs. Pelosi by using choice words that suggest Mr. Biden still has time to change his mind.
“Joe Biden has always done the patriotic thing and made the right decision for the country, and he puts the country over himself,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat. “And I have faith that that’s what he’s going to do.”
Mr. Biden still has backers who want him to receive the nominee at the Democratic National Convention in August.
“Joe Biden received millions of votes, all 50 states and some territories,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, Arizona Democrat. “He is the nominee. He was elected to be the nominee.”
Mr. Biden’s top campaign advisers — Jen O’Malley, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti — will speak to Senate Democrats at a special caucus lunch Thursday at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters. They’re also likely to listen to feedback from concerned senators and take that back to Mr. Biden.
More than a dozen Democratic senators have raised varying degrees of alarm about whether Mr. Biden can win. Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat, has gone the furthest publicly in saying that he believes the president will lose to Mr. Trump, potentially in a “landslide” that impacts down-ballot races and gives Republicans full control of Washington.
Mr. Bennet and others have pointed out that Mr. Biden was already trailing Mr. Trump in the polls — both nationally and in most key swing states — ahead of his disastrous debate performance two weeks ago. His disadvantage has only grown since then, with Mr. Trump now leading the national vote by 3 points, according to the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls.
Rep. Ritchie Torres put out a statement Wednesday saying that Democrats need “a serious reckoning with the down-ballot effect of whomever we nominate” based on “an unsentimental analysis of the cold hard numbers — which have no personal feelings or political loyalties.”
“If we’re going to choose a particular path, we should be clear-eyed about its consequences,” the New York Democrat said on X. “Blindness is not bliss amid the terrifying threat of a Trump presidency.”
Democrats suddenly listening to the polls and reason rather than emotion was both validating and disheartening to Rep. Dean Phillips, the Minnesota Democrat who mounted a failed primary challenge to Mr. Biden last year.
“It won’t surprise anybody that the likelihood of my candidacy succeeding was secondary to the likelihood of it inspiring the conversation I was trying to inspire,” Mr. Phillips told reporters. “I’m disappointed with those in power in my party for not heeding that call at a time where they all knew the same thing I did — absolutely.”
Mr. Phillips, who withdrew from the Democratic presidential primary in March, faced harsh criticism from his fellow Democrats for over a year. Now, Mr. Phillips said fellow Democratic lawmakers are privately lamenting to him they did not take his campaign more seriously.
“I’m deeply disappointed in a political system that has resulted in this dynamic that we now face,” he said.
One Democrat acknowledged some regrets publicly.
“Everyone wishes now that we had had primaries and that the president had been out there more, and that we had had an opportunity to see exactly what was there before this debate,” said Rep. Marc Veasey, Texas Democrat.
Neither Mr. Veasey nor Mr. Phillips joined the small group of House Democrats explicitly calling on Mr. Biden to drop out.
That group grew to nine on Wednesday with Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, a Democrat the party considers vulnerable, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon saying Mr. Biden should step aside.
“Trump is an existential threat to American democracy; it is our duty to put forward the strongest candidate against him,” Mr. Ryan said in an X post. “Joe Biden is a patriot but is no longer the best candidate to defeat Trump.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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