Capitol Hill's stubborn Biden rebellion refuses to go away
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President Biden is playing whack-a-mole with Democratic members of Congress, slamming down defections in one corner only for more to pop up elsewhere.
Why it matters: Multiple Democratic lawmakers told Axios they expect more of their colleagues to go public with calls for Biden to exit the 2024 presidential race before the nomination fight is wrapped up.
- One House Democrat, citing recent AP-NORC polling, told Axios: "Two-thirds of voters want a new candidate, and there's still time to make that change; so if representatives are listening to their constituents, we should."
- "These new polls continue to come in — they're terrible ... he's in obvious decline and it's beginning to affect other races," said another House Democrat.
State of play: Just hours after a heated and chaotic call between Biden and the center-left New Democrat Coalition — which lawmakers say was poised to unleash another flood of defections against the president — former President Trump was grazed by a bullet at a rally in Pennsylvania.
- The Biden campaign pointed to statements from several House Democrats who were on the New Democrats call defending his comments.
- The shooting created a temporary lull in Democrats' internal battles over Biden's candidacy.
- But by Tuesday, a group of House Democrats had begun putting together a letter slamming the Democratic National Committee for plans to hold an early virtual roll call vote to formalize Biden's nomination.
Zoom in: The DNC, apparently giving in to pressure from lawmakers, announced Wednesday it would not hold the virtual roll call vote before August.
- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Axios the letter opposing the roll call would be scrapped, saying, "We will continue to see how this evolves."
- Biden's win was short-lived. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) became easily the highest-profile elected Democrat to call for Biden to drop out — and the first since the assassination attempt against Trump.
- It also emerged on Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) had pushed to delay the DNC virtual roll call vote.
What we're hearing: "There was a waiting period after the assassination attempt," said one House Democrat, but "whatever happens with the post-shooting, post-RNC [polling] bounce may still allow some kind of an intervention."
- "That's what most of us are hoping for," the lawmaker added, while acknowledging Biden is "deeply stubborn and locked down in ways that continue to amaze many of us."
- Another House Democrat said there is "lots of chatter ... about more statements" calling for Biden's withdrawal and that Democratic leadership is "well aware" of it.
The bottom line: With Biden receiving public support from dozens of House and Senate Democrats while making clear he has no plans to drop out, a sense of powerlessness is beginning to set in among the president's skeptics.
- "Lots of people want him to step down but feel like these calls for him to do so are futile and just driving division within our party," said one senior House Democrat.
- The House Democrat who noted Biden's stubbornness said that more statements "could happen," but "on the other hand, people could conclude that it's just pointless."
