House Democratic leaders said Tuesday their party must stand behind embattled President Biden as their nominee to prevent former President Donald Trump from returning to the White House.
Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, when asked if the party was only supporting Mr. Biden to stop Mr. Trump, and not actively advocating for the president, said, “Right now, President Biden is the nominee, and we support the Democratic nominee who will beat Donald Trump. That is a fact.”
“That is where we are, and preventing Donald Trump from a disastrous reign and where he can level Project 2025, where he can deport kids from families, where he can rip families apart,” Mr. Aguilar said.
He added, “That’s what we want to prevent here and that is the focus in addition to [Rep.] Hakeem Jeffries as speaker.”
Project 2025 is a conservative policy agenda formulated by Trump allies at the Heritage Foundation. Democrats say it is proof of Mr. Trump’s extremist ambitions, while Mr. Trump himself recently distanced himself from the blueprint.
Mr. Aguilar conceded that because Mr. Biden had a rough debate performance on June 27, he will continue to have to prove himself on the campaign trail
SEE ALSO: Senate Democrats reluctant to talk about path forward for Biden after closed-door meeting
“He is going to be out there. This is about campaigning and hustling. My answer is, ’We’ll see.’ Let’s see the press conferences. Let’s see the campaign stops,” he said.
“The president knows he did not have a good debate performance. He knows he has to be out there in people’s districts and communities—out in tough states. He knows that. And that’s what we’ll see in the days and weeks ahead.”
Democrats have been scrambling to unify their party since Mr. Biden’s debate performance against former Mr. Trump, which triggered a growing list of Democratic lawmakers who have either called for him to withdraw from the race or privately questioned if he is capable of being president for another four years. Incumbent Democrats in swing districts are especially worried about their prospects with Mr. Biden at the top of the ticket.
The House Democratic caucus huddled at its party headquarters in Washington on Tuesday to discuss how to proceed.
Although Democratic members told reporters that the majority of them at the meeting supported the president, lawmakers’ moods were dour as they exited the meeting.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.