Biden in crisis

REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware — President Joe Biden's reelection bid appeared to be nearing the point of collapse on Thursday, amid a cascade of warnings from the Democratic Party's top leaders that they have lost confidence in his candidacy.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi each told Biden in separate meetings over the last week that he should reconsider his reelection run or risk losing and dragging the rest of the party down with him. Schumer was "pretty harsh" in his conversation with Biden, said one senior Hill Democrat briefed on the discussion.

Sen. Jon Tester , the vulnerable incumbent from Montana, became the 22nd congressional Democrat — and only second senator — to publicly call for Biden to step aside. "While I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term," he said.

And House Democrats, party operatives and former administration officials who want Biden to step aside expressed growing optimism that the intensifying pressure campaign would finally crack the shell of defensiveness, denial and unwavering determination constructed around Biden — and that he and his most loyal aides may be starting to listen, said three people familiar with private conversations who were granted anonymity to describe them. Others viewed the leaks of the days-old conversations as a sign the petitioners have grown impatient.

“This is an absolute debacle,” said one senior Democratic official who is close to congressional leadership. “Only amateurs see a path. The red is mushrooming all across the map.”

The flurry of damaging revelations across a 24-hour span marked perhaps the lowest moment of a three-week political nightmare for Biden, who has tried and failed to rebuild confidence within his own party following a dismal debate performance last month.

New AP-NORC polling, meanwhile, found that 65 percent of Democrats now believe Biden should withdraw, undermining the president’s insistence that only party “elites” and insiders want him out.

Adding injury to insult, the president is now holed up at his home on the Delaware shore, isolating after a positive test result for Covid that forced him to cut short a campaign swing through Nevada on Wednesday.

Democrats instead described a deepening sense of frustration and horror over the state of the race and a broader party mired in seemingly unending crisis. Many have warmed in recent days to the prospect of replacing Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris, despite reservations about her political vulnerabilities and the reality that there's little guarantee it would clear a path to victory in November.

Just a day after Biden insisted in a BET interview that “there’s more to do, and I’m reluctant to walk away from that,” there was growing hope that the president is rapidly being pushed toward a decision point.

"They may be starting to read the writing on the wall," said one of the people familiar with the private conversations.

On Thursday, a letter that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) had written to Biden earlier this month urging him to hear out critical Democrats began making the rounds as well. The July 6 letter compared the president to an aging pitcher, with Raskin writing that "there is no shame in taking a well deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out."

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), one of Biden’s closest allies in the Senate and one of his fiercest defenders, acknowledged the conversations happening behind closed doors.

He told reporters at the Aspen Security Forum that “the president deserves the respect of having conversations about our path forward constructively and privately and in a way that allows us as a Democratic Caucus to come together in support of our nominee, who I believe will be Joe Biden.”

Biden’s Covid diagnosis struck at a deeply uncomfortable time for the president and his campaign, Democratic allies lamented, forcing Biden off the trail prematurely and creating a contrast with former President Donald Trump, who is set to accept the Republican nomination Thursday night just days after surviving an assassination attempt that has united the GOP behind him.

Kevin O'Connor, the White House physician, said in a letter released by the White House on Thursday that Biden is still experiencing "mild symptoms," but no fever. The White House's press office called a lid at 9:40 a.m., meaning the president would not be seen for the rest of the day.

At a press conference outside the Republican convention in Milwaukee on Thursday, deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said the campaign "is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not at the top of the ticket."

"He is and will be the Democratic nominee," he said.

And a senior Biden aide told POLITICO that "Biden is more committed to staying in than ever."

But the situation represents a sharp turn for Biden from earlier this week, when close aides believed his strong end to last week — including an hourlong press conference and a fiery Michigan rally — had bought the president some time. They believed the spotlight would then turn to the Republican convention while the campaign worked to quietly mend fences with Democrats eager to push Biden out.

But the discontent continued to simmer, fueled by Biden’s own insistence that he remains far and away the best candidate to beat Trump and his uneven performances in public and private. On a call last week with moderate Democrats, Biden snapped at Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, offering an angry and rambling defense of his foreign policy recommendations that several lawmakers on the call later told Biden officials had renewed doubts about his fitness for office, according to three Democrats and party leaders.

A series of interviews designed to reassure Democrats about Biden's mental acuity instead only reinforced concerns held by many lawmakers, who pointed to the president's struggle to articulate a clear case for his candidacy in a combative sit-down with NBC News' Lester Holt.

At the NAACP's annual convention on Tuesday, Biden sought to demonstrate his vigor with a high-volume speech. But when it came time to promote his newest policy — a 5 percent cap on certain rent increases — he stumbled and struggled to read the teleprompter, eventually saying landlords wouldn't be able to raise rents by more than $55 under the proposal.

One Democratic strategist who works with donors said fundraising has continued to falter, in what they described as an "intentional effort to starve the Biden campaign."

"There's a strategic goal here: to get him out of the race," said the strategist.

Yet it was the leaks on Wednesday about Schumer, Pelosi and Jeffries’ concerns that have particularly alarmed Biden allies inside and outside the White House, according to three Democrats and party leaders, granted anonymity to speak candidly.

While Biden has publicly insisted he will remain in the race, there is growing belief among some on his campaign that he could now consider stepping aside for Harris, according to the three Democrats.

“He’s a proud man and a good president,” said one of the officials, “but it’s starting to feel like there’s no way out of this.”

The president’s illness may slow internal discussions on the path forward. But there is an expectation that Biden’s family and closest advisers will discuss the future of the campaign this weekend, according to two of the Democrats.

Swapping out the top of the ticket this late in the race would be a drastic move, with unpredictable consequences. There is no consensus within the party on who should replace Biden, nor how exactly to go about it. Some of Harris' outside allies have already signaled they are gearing up for a war if party officials attempt to pass over her and nominate another Democrat, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

There has been little indication in polling, too, that an alternative candidate would fare significantly better against Trump than Biden — a point the president and his close advisers have wielded in trying to tamp down the intraparty rebellion.

But Democratic lawmakers and donors have argued that Biden’s candidacy is in such dire straits that it’s increasingly a risk worth taking, if only to stem losses down ballot and give them a puncher's chance at holding on to the presidency.

Still, they acknowledge that it remains up to Biden alone to change course. That’s a step the president may yet be unwilling to take, even as support crumbles all around him.

But one senior Hill Democrat indicated the path toward a détente is quickly vanishing, and that the pressure on Biden from the rest of the party was only poised to ratchet up from here.

"Everyone feels that if they push hard enough that he will eventually relent," the senior Hill Democrat said.

Elena Schneider in Washington and Nahal Toosi in Aspen, Colorado, contributed to this report.