President Joe Biden delivered a steady performance at a high-stakes press conference Thursday but still fell short of assuring jittery Democrats concerned about his future, prolonging painful questions across the party.
But minutes after the press conference wrapped up, at least two more Democratic lawmakers called for Biden to step aside — a sign his problems are far from over.
“Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign,” Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), wrote in a statement obtained by POLITICO. “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.” Just minutes before, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, also called on Biden to step aside in a post on X.
Even as Biden successfully fielded 50 minutes of questions on an array of dense issues, many Democrats privately feared his several verbal gaffes would be what stood out the most. That includes one in which he mistakenly referred to “Vice President Trump” instead of Kamala Harris.
“Unreal,” said one House Democrat watching the appearance, responding to the flub, who ultimately reviewed it as: “Mixed. Obviously much better second half.” Another Democrat, who was following Biden’s remarks from a plane Biden’s remarks from a plane, texted about the Trump moment: “Ouch.”
“Overall he sounded coherent but calling Z — President Putin and Harris — VP Trump overshadows the rest of his time,” that lawmaker added. Democrats were granted anonymity to speak candidly about their reactions to the press conference.
Still, it wasn’t as bad as some Democrats feared. Biden flexed his foreign policy chops — including his role in expanding NATO — and defended his record of legislative accomplishments. Those moments, as well as a jab at Trump’s golf game, drew positive reviews from Democrats watching.
“Holy shit — he’s on fire,” texted one aide as Biden lit into Trump’s record.
And asked about his ability to do the job, the president said there’s “no indication” he’s slowing down and said he has more work to do: “I want to finish it.”
“Looks and sounds 100x better than he did at debate,” one House Democrat said in a text, adding that Biden was “almost” as good as his last State of the Union appearance, which drew no complaints from his party.
“Talked too long. But if this had been the debate none of the last two weeks would’ve happened,” that member added.
The whole thing could put Democrats in an even more awkward position than before. Despite deep discontent with their nominee, the performance wasn’t bad enough to trigger party-wide movement toward Harris or others. While at least a half-dozen Democrats had prepared statements to come out against Biden if he had tanked in the press conference, it remained unclear, as of Thursday night, whether it had met their bar.
Many Democrats told POLITICO they didn’t catch the press conference in real time for various reasons, including pre-scheduled travel, fundraisers or other personal reasons. Both chambers of Congress had left D.C. earlier Thursday, and won’t return for more than a week.
Hours earlier, the president’s mix-up between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a NATO event also elicited groans in the party.
“He has no margin for error,” one House Democrat said in response. Another House Democrat, when told about the Zelenskyy-Putin mistake by a reporter, did not believe it.
“No he didn’t,” said the Democrat. “Christ.”
One senior Democratic aide summed up their reaction bluntly: “It’s time to suck it up and push the old man over the finish line.”
Meredith Lee Hill contributed reporting.
