"Don't watch cable news": Biden campaign tries to rally staff
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
President Biden's campaign chair convened an all-staff call Friday and urged staffers to tune out news coverage that has focused on whether Biden will be pushed aside as the Democratic nominee, according to a recording of the call obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The call is the latest example of Biden campaign leadership working to turn around the low morale among staffers in the aftermath of Biden's debate.
- "Don't watch cable news all the time," chair Jen O'Malley Dillon told staff at the campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
- "That is not the real world. The real world is the voters that are standing with us, the delegates that are with us, and we're going to weather this because of this organization."
What they're saying: O'Malley Dillon reiterated to staff that Biden is "in this race" and "in it to win it."
- "I talked to him this morning – he sounds like sh*t because he's not feeling that well," she said, noting his recent COVID diagnosis.
- "But he is doing the work, and he is focused on what you guys are doing."
O'Malley Dillon added that "the people that the president is hearing from are saying: 'stay in this race and keep going and keep fighting, and we need you.'
- "Those voices will never be as loud as the people on TV, but remember that the people in our country are not watching cable news. They just aren't."
Between the lines: O'Malley Dillon is taking incoming from Democratic lawmakers, donors, and some her own staff who feel upset that the White House was not candid about the president's mental fitness in the months before the debate.
- In addition to the staff call, O'Malley Dillon also made a rare TV appearance Friday morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe", which is closely watched by the president and his aides.
- A recent AP/NORC poll found that 65% of Democrats want Biden to withdraw from the race.
In the face of mounting outside criticism, some Biden aides have rallied together while others feel disillusioned.
- A DNC official told Axios: "I appreciate the focus on staff efforts, but no one wants or needs to be gaslit about the president."
- Some Democrats who considered joining the campaign have recently expressed relief they decided against it.
Zoom in: After O'Malley Dillon spoke, former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh also delivered a fiery pep talk in his thick Boston accent.
- "Ladies and gentlemen, it's up to you," he said. "It is up to us to say: 'Okay, wait a second. Screw it! We're gonna go deeper. We're gonna move harder. The people of America want to vote for us."
The bottom line: O'Malley Dillon also highlighted that the campaign has still been doing extensive field work in swing states even amidst the political fallout.
- "Over the course of the last week alone, we had 100,000 door knocks," she said.
- "We had 76% of those people that are with Joe Biden, and those are not Joe Biden voters. Those are our re-engagement targets, the people that haven't checked in yet, they are expansion targets–the people that weren't with us in '20 but have moved to us and our issues since then."
A spokesperson for the DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
