As far as President Joe Biden is concerned, the intraparty debate over his electoral future has run its course. NBC News reported this week, for example, that in recent days, the incumbent “has started to privately convey a new message to Democrats: The conversation about my future is over, and I’m getting irritated that you’re not realizing that. Biden has called several prominent allies individually to tell them to spread the word.”
The president’s impatience notwithstanding, the Democratic discussion remains ongoing.
The challenge for those in the party who still hope to replace Biden on the ticket is the rapidly closing window. In fact, The New York Times reported this week that Democratic National Committee officials were “moving swiftly” to confirm Biden as the party’s presidential nominee “by the end of July.”
To put it mildly, Democrats who still want the conversation to continue were not pleased. In fact, congressional Democrats began circulating a letter seeking more time. It’s against this backdrop that NBC News reported:
Democrats plan to formally re-nominate President Joe Biden in a virtual roll call vote during the first week of August, before the party’s national convention, despite protests from some Democrats who want more time for the party to consider alternative nominees. The plan was formally announced in a letter to Democratic National Committee members sent Wednesday morning.
Ordinarily, Democrats wouldn’t nominate their presidential candidate until the convention, but party officials said the earlier virtual process is necessary to avoid a legal mess in Ohio. Republican officials in the Buckeye State insist there is no need for such steps, but DNC officials have responded that they don’t trust those officials’ word.
And so, the window of opportunity — which, again, Biden already sees as closed — appears exceedingly narrow.
Major Democratic donors still hope to wield some influence and nudge the incumbent off the ballot, not because they oppose him or his agenda, but because they’re convinced he’ll lose. For his part, the president has said he’s more concerned with the attitudes of Democratic voters than the party’s financial backers.
The problem with this is that many Democratic voters seem to agree with the donors: A newly released national poll from the Associated Press found that nearly two-thirds of Democrats prefer to see Biden forgo his re-election plans. That number is roughly the same as the results of the latest NBC News poll, which found that 62% of Democratic voters want to see Biden end his candidacy. Survey data like this makes it difficult for the president to say the chatter is limited to “the elites.” It also comes against a backdrop of several other recent polls that show Biden losing the 2024 race to Donald Trump. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the list of members calling on the president to stand down is still inching higher: Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who reportedly raised private concerns, is now going public, urging Biden to step aside. If there are others in the party who want the same thing, they’ll have to speak up in the coming days or forever hold their peace.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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