Biden steps up outreach to congressional Democrats still skeptical of his reelection chances

President Biden has begun a more aggressive outreach campaign to congressional Democrats after his highly anticipated post-NATO news conference failed to ease his precarious standing on Capitol Hill. 

But instead of quashing dissent in meetings Friday with House Democrats, Mr. Biden was personally confronted by Rep. Mike Levin of California, who reportedly asked the president to step aside as the party’s nominee during a call with Hispanic Caucus members.

Mr. Levin’s campaign declined to confirm the reports, saying, “It was a private discussion between members and the president.”

But Mr. Levin did put out a statement immediately after the call in which he asked Mr. Biden to “pass the torch” as he emphasized the need to “prevail against the incalculable threat Donald Trump poses to the American institutions of freedom and democracy.”

“Once again, our national mettle must be forged in the crucible of history,” Mr. Levin said. “It is time to move forward. With a new leader. Together.”

Despite a few gaffes before and during his Thursday news conference, Mr. Biden had a passable performance that prevented a dam-break moment some anticipated would come if he repeated the disastrous June 27 debate against former President Donald Trump. 

Still, a handful of Democratic lawmakers joined the calls for Mr. Biden to step aside as the party’s presidential nominee after his press conference. 

Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, one of the first Democrats to call on Mr. Biden to drop out, said Friday on Boston Public Radio that a majority of House Democrats — “and I bet in the Senate, too” — believe the president should drop out but are not speaking up because of “political calculations.” The president, he said, is not doing enough to change anyone’s minds that he can win in November.  

“He needs to show how he can turn this around — not how he can just hold his own, not how he can get through a press conference without a disaster — but how he can start really winning his way back,” Mr. Moulton said. “Because right now, we’re sadly on a pathway to losing.”  

As of Friday afternoon, 19 House Democrats and one Democratic senator — Peter Welch of Vermont — had called on Mr. Biden to step aside and let a new leader run. Many others have expressed concerns publicly and privately without going as far as to push Mr. Biden’s exit. 

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, requested a private meeting with Mr. Biden to share the “candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive” feedback he heard from his caucus this week. The two met Thursday evening. 

“In my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together,” Mr. Jeffries wrote in a letter sent to House Democrats on Friday. 

Also on Friday, Mr. Biden held virtual meetings with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus — organized through the group’s political arms — as he tried to shore up his support on Capitol Hill. Rep. Judy Chu, California Democrat and chair of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement that Mr. Biden heard the group’s concerns “and was energetic, responsive, and clear in communicating his messages and goals.”

The president met with the Congressional Black Caucus earlier this week and was set to meet Saturday with Democrats’ two largest ideological groups, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the more centrist New Democrat Coalition. 

But some Democrats say Mr. Biden’s outreach may be too late.

“After the debate, many of us, including me, got on very early urging [the Biden campaign] strongly to reach out to rank-and-file members in the House, especially, because there are so many of us,” Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Democrat, said on CNN. “Otherwise what you risk was the atomization of the house, each individual kind of on his or her phone, looking at their situation, making their judgment and acting accordingly.”

That’s largely what has happened. And now, Mr. Connolly said, it is unlikely Mr. Biden and his team can stop lawmakers from making their own assessments based on what they’ve heard from constituents and seen from polling in their districts. 

“It’s a very tight race nationwide, according to the several national polls, but when you look at battleground states, there has been deterioration that’s very alarming,” he said. “Because ultimately, we elect the president with the Electoral College, not on the popular vote.”

Mr. Biden continues to have his defenders on Capitol Hill, but those members’ voices have often been drowned out by the dissenters. 

Sen. Alex Padilla, California Democrat, posted on X after the Hispanic Caucus call that Mr. Biden engaged with the group’s members on strategy “and demonstrated once again that he is clear-eyed on the path forward to defeating Trump and MAGA extremism.”

Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, a former member of Democratic leadership and revered member of the caucus close to Mr. Biden, said Friday that while the president may not be physically the same man he was when he took office, he still has the mental acuity to be president. 

“We do know that he sometimes mangles words and phrases,” Mr. Clyburn said on the “Today” show. “But all of that is almost natural for people who grew up stuttering, and they do focus a little more. And when you focus a little more, you tend to lose the flow.”

Mr. Clyburn urged Democrats and other voters to focus on “the substance” of Mr. Biden’s message and his record, rather than “misspoken words and phrases.” 

“Let Joe Biden continue to make his own decisions about his [campaign]. He’s earned that right. And I am going to give him that much respect,” he said. “If he decides to change his mind later on, then we would respond to that.” 

Asked in that hypothetical scenario if Vice President Kamala Harris would have his endorsement to be the party’s nominee, Mr. Clyburn said “absolutely.” 

“Especially in these recent weeks when all of this microscope has been focused on her and him, she has acquitted herself famously,” he said.