Pelosi suggests Biden could still exit race, as more cracks emerge in Democratic support

President Biden faced a new round of setbacks on Wednesday in his campaign to rally Democrats behind his reelection bid, as fresh signals of discontent — and new doubts about his ability to defeat former President Trump — emerged on and off of Capitol Hill.

In the House, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made waves in suggesting Biden — who has been steadfast in his decision to remain on the ticket — still has a decision to make. In the upper chamber, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) suggested Biden would "do the patriotic thing" to prevent Trump from winning. And in Hollywood, George Clooney — a longtime Democratic donor, fundraiser and activist — abandoned Biden altogether, saying Democrats are sure to lose the Senate, House and White House if Biden remains on the top of the ticket.

Adding to Biden’s woes, he lost support from three additional House Democrats in roughly the past 24 hours — Reps. Mikie Sherrill (N.J.), a well-respected national security lawmaker; Pat Ryan (N.Y.), a vulnerable incumbent up for reelection; and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a 28-year veteran of the House — bringing the number of members publicly opposed to his candidacy to eight.

The separate episodes have highlighted Biden’s struggles in convincing even some of his closest allies that he’s up to the task of beating back Trump’s challenge — and serving another four years as commander in chief — in the wake of his faltering debate performance in Atlanta last month.

They also raise questions about the effectiveness of recent White House efforts to calm internal anxieties, which had appeared to be working earlier in the week. 

“I’d be doing a grave disservice if I said he was the best candidate to serve this fall,” Ryan told The New York Times. “For the good of our country, for my two young kids, I’m asking Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming election and deliver on the promise to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders.”

“I really hope, with all my heart, that he will listen.”

Last month’s Biden-Trump debate fueled Republican attacks that the president lacks the vigor for the job and triggered immediate alarms among Democrats, who are scrambling this week to decide a path forward amid growing pressure for him to step aside or risk a rout in November.

In the immediate aftermath of the debate, Pelosi had voiced support for Biden and rejected the early calls for him to bow out. But on Wednesday, in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, she declined to say outright that Biden should remain on the ticket, suggesting the president has yet to finalize that decision — despite his repeated vows to stay in the race.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” Pelosi said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short.”

Pressed on if she personally wanted him to run, the California Democrat deflected, a stark shift from the endorsement she offered in the days right after the debate.

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” Pelosi said. “And that’s, that’s the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with.”

The comments, while curt, have raised eyebrows in the Democratic caucus, where Pelosi — who led the group for nearly 20 years before bowing out of the top job last year — is known as a tactical, and sometimes ruthless, politician who chooses her words carefully.

Some Democrats say her Wednesday morning television appearance was strategic.

“She is clearly keeping this situation very open, very fluid,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who broke Biden’s wall of public Democratic support as the first sitting lawmaker to call for his withdrawal.

“She and I may not have exactly the same perspective on this,” he continued, “but the fact that she’s raising these issues, leaving it out there, indicates … her realization that we can’t go forward without some greater certainty on a number of aspects of the president’s future.”

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) dismissed the idea that Pelosi had actually suggested Biden could still step off of the ballot, asking reporters: “That’s not what she said, is it?”

But he declined to comment directly, and also left open the question of whether Biden has made a final decision.

“I have no idea,” Clyburn said. “You have to ask him.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — who has kept his cards close to the vest throughout Biden’s debate debacle — sounded a similar note, telling reporters “that’s a question you have to ask President Biden” when asked if his vow to remain in the race, which he has reiterated several times, is his final decision.

“As always, this decision is up to the president,” echoed House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber.

Biden’s staunchest House supporters, however, are rejecting the notion that the president has left the door open to a change at the top of the ticket. The president won the right to the nomination in the primaries, they argue, and he’s insisting on remaining in the race, meaning Democrats have no choice but to rally behind him. 

“He’s been pretty strong about it so I think he’s in,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, which has been vocal in its support for Biden.

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) said Pelosi’s voice carries plenty of weight in the caucus, but he wondered how Democrats could replace Biden without anyone challenging him directly. 

“She's certainly a person of influence and someone that everyone respects and admires. But I think people have been saying all along: This is Biden's choice,” said Larson, who served as chair of the Democratic caucus during Pelosi’s leadership tenure. “I haven't seen anyone step forward and say, 'You know what? I'm running and I'm going to have my name introduced at the convention.'" 

“What other alternative is there?”

As Democrats weigh their shortlist of options, many are voicing concerns that Biden would not only lose the White House to Trump, but would also act as a downballot drag on the party in a cycle when they’re hoping to flip control of the House. 

Clooney, who held a massive fundraiser for Biden just a month ago, is warning of that very dynamic. And Ryan, in opposing Biden’s candidacy, became the second front-line Democrat to do so. He cited his conversations with “deeply concerned” constituents.

“These are the opposite of elites,” Ryan said of Biden’s critics, contrasting the president’s claim that “big names” in the party are trying to push him out. 

“These are people eating hot dogs and drinking beer and talking about my Yankees and where the country’s at and expressing some pretty deep and weighty things,” Ryan added.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who on Monday criticized “the intra-party mixed messaging” from Democrats as “deeply self-destructive,” urged his colleagues in a Wednesday statement to think long and hard about how the party’s nominee will affect House and Senate races.

“In determining how to proceed as a party, there must be a serious reckoning with the down-ballot effect of whomever we nominate. What matters is not how we feel but what the numbers tell us,” he wrote.

“If we’re going to choose a particular path, we should be clear-eyed about its consequences,” he added. “Blindness is not bliss amid the terrifying threat of a Trump presidency.”

As the debate evolves, some Democrats said they need reassurances that Biden and his team have a plan to salvage his postdebate image — and keep Trump from the White House. 

“Biden's campaign should come up to the House, should come up to the Senate, or have us go over to the White House and kind of lay out what the path to victory looks like,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.). “I don't want to see the president's legacy be one where he loses in a landslide.”