Senior Democrats, including party leaders in Washington, have held their fire in public and straddled the fence on whether Mr Biden should continue his 2024 bid.
Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, had previously declined to directly answer whether she wanted him to keep running. She did so on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the president’s favourite news programme.
“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said, adding that “time is running short” for him to make that call.
CNN reported that since then, Mrs Pelosi had met with Mr Biden privately and told him that polls show he cannot win in November. She later slammed the reporting as a “feeding frenzy”, but did not deny that a conversation with Mr Biden had taken place.
Her replacement as House Democratic chief, Hakeem Jeffries, has said he is having “candid, comprehensive and clear-eyed” conversations with his members and that he will meet his leadership team to discuss next steps.
Mr Jeffries reportedly also met with Mr Biden in recent days and expressed concern.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has publicly said he is “for Joe” but, per Axios, is privately signalling to donors that he is open to replacing Mr Biden.
He, like Mr Jeffries, has met with the president in recent days and reportedly told the Mr Biden about his worries that his candidacy could negatively impact Democrats in other races.
Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has continued to defend Biden, telling MSNBC “we’ve got to stop the nitpicking”.
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