WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday agreed to Gov. Tim Walz’s request for a meeting of Democratic governors with President Joe Biden to discuss concerns about the president’s rocky debate performance and determine how to best calm the political waters.
The White House meeting Walz requested as head of the Democratic Governors Association will be on Wednesday, a national Democratic official said. Walz will be flying with some of the governors to Washington while others will likely join the meeting virtually.
Walz held a meeting with Democratic governors Monday in which the president’s problems were discussed. He said governors were concerned about how they would message the president’s stumbles during the debate.
Some governors were also concerned the president had not reached out to them after his dismal debate performance last Thursday. Biden’s stumbling during the debate ratcheted up Democratic concerns about the 81-year-old president’s ability to win re-election, and even successfully finish out his term in office.
“Democrats are the surrogates. They are enacting the president’s agenda in the states,” the Democratic official said.
He also said “Democratic governors are some of the president and vice president’s most proactive and vocal supporters” and that “the Biden-Harris team is in constant communication with the governors and their teams, including about yesterday’s meeting.”
Walz and most Democratic elected officials circled the wagon after the debate. Until Tuesday, when Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said Biden should withdraw from the race.
“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw,” Doggett said in a statement. “President Biden should do the same.”
Before Doggett made his remarks, at a campaign stop in Hastings on Tuesday, Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, said she is “talking to a number of my colleagues in the Congress right now and I think we need to let the president think about whether he wants to continue moving forward.”
“He is the only one who can manage to change the situation… He’s the only one who can step aside,” Craig said. “It gives me concern that there might be a second Donald Trump presidency.”
Last year, a few prominent Democratic strategists — including David Axelrod and James Carville – were vocal about their concerns about Biden’s age and capabilities.
But only one elected official, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-3rd District, was public about widespread doubts in the Democratic Party of Biden’s ability to defeat Trump because of the president’s age, even to the point of challenging Biden, unsuccessfully, in several state primaries.
But Phillips has been largely silent about Biden since last week’s debate.
If Biden were to withdraw from the race, Vice President Kamala Harris would likely be the strongest candidate to replace him.
A CNN poll released Tuesday found Harris polling better than Biden. The poll determined that 45% of registered voters would support Harris in a hypothetical match-up with Trump, just 2 percentage points behind the former president, who received 47% support in a head-to-head contest with Harris.
If Biden leaves the race and Harris were to win the nomination, she would need to choose a vice presidential candidate.
There is speculation already about who Harris’s vice president would be. Walz, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky are among those who have been mentioned.
