Democrats’ Private Meeting on Biden Candidacy “Felt Like a Funeral”

Democrats appear to be at a complete loss over what to do with President Joe Biden’s 2024 candidacy.

A private House Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday morning had members in a whirlwind, seemingly unable to decide whether to hand the November run to another Democratic candidate or stick by Biden’s side, despite the American public’s floundering confidence in him.

Tennessee Representative Steve Cohen appeared frustrated as he exited the private meeting, telling a crowd of reporters that the party was far from on the same page about what to do with Biden. “We’re not even in the same book,” Cohen said.

Dems exiting their meeting on Biden saying not only are they not on the same page, ‘we are not even in the same book’ pic.twitter.com/n2QEeJinzE

— Jon Michael Raasch (@JMRaasch) July 9, 2024

One unidentified member backing Biden told Punchbowl News that the scene “felt like a funeral.” Another lawmaker told Semafor that the “morale of the caucus is at historic lows,” and that comparing the political impasse to a funeral would be “an insult to funerals.”

Several lawmakers reportedly left the building already on their phones, while Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee had her headphones in. Democrats in attendance were reportedly unified on supporting the caucus’s eventual nominee, but whether that would remain Biden was remarkably unclear.

“The fighting spirit and pride and courage that served the country so well four years ago, that helped Joe Biden win, will bring the ticket down this time,” Illinois Representative Mike Quigley told the Associated Press.

But just a month out from the Democratic National Convention—where either Biden or an alternative will have to be nominated—the other options to the incumbent president aren’t exactly rallying the party behind them. Despite Kamala Harris’s growing popularity as Biden’s replacement, Connecticut Representative Jahana Hayes argued that putting the vice president at the top of the ticket would be “setting her up for failure,” wrote Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman.