Democrats navigate divisions around supporting Biden or calling for him to step aside

Amna Nawaz:

Now to our other major story.

House Democrats met behind closed doors today as the party weighs whether to support President Joe Biden's reelection bid or call for him to step aside.

Geoff Bennett:

Our Lisa Desjardins has more on the party's internal struggle.

Lisa Desjardins:

Outside the Democratic National Committee, the pressure was visible, but barely voiced. A few House members were Biden-forward.

Man:

Joe Biden all the way.

Lisa Desjardins:

A few signaled acceptance.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA):

Joe Biden is the nominee.

Lisa Desjardins:

One openly said Biden must step aside.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL):

He just has to step down because he can't win.

Lisa Desjardins:

But many, many…

Question:

Congressman, is President Biden the right man for the job?

Question:

Should the president step aside?

Lisa Desjardins:

… avoided saying anything about it at all.

Man:

Go, Celtics.

Lisa Desjardins:

As a herd of reporters waited and sweated outside, the political heat was inside. Members spent nearly two hours on the future of the presidential ticket, including whether Biden's debate performance means he cannot win.

"PBS NewsHour" was told that a group of members said they think Vice President Harris may have a better chance.

Lisa Desjardins:

Congressman, what do you think about Vice President Harris? I understand she came up in there.

Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD):

I'm sorry?

Lisa Desjardins:

Vice President Harris. And there are people that are saying maybe she's a better option. What do you think about that?

Rep. Glenn Ivey:

Well, there's a lot of positive comments about the vice president. I don't know that I'd say there's a consensus one way or another about all of that.

Lisa Desjardins:

But as members exited, those behind Biden stayed there.

Question:

Do you think Biden will win in November?

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC):

Absolutely.

MAN:

Staying with papa.

Lisa Desjardins:

And those who want someone else still do.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX):

My position has not changed.

Lisa Desjardins:

But hovering over it, former President Donald Trump and Democratic concern over his agenda and the Project 2025 agenda associated with many close to him.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley:

I am not distracted by a 90-minute debate. I am focused on guarding against 90 years of harm if Project 2025 becomes a reality.

Lisa Desjardins:

Also hovering, the fact that Democrats are struggling. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler reversed his call for Biden to step aside.

Question:

Do you think he's the best candidate?

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY):

Yes, at this point he's the best candidate. He's the only candidate.

Lisa Desjardins:

At best, many are accepting, rather than cheering for Biden.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA):

Until the president says otherwise, the assumption is he's the nominee. The majority of people who I have talked to believe that it's his decision and that he has made it very clear that he's going to be the nominee. And, at this point, we have got to focus on winning.

Lisa Desjardins:

On the other side of the Capitol, Democratic senators were even more disciplined, with few answering questions, though some Biden loyalists did speak.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY):

As I have said before, I'm with Joe.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA):

Joe Biden is a great president, and he's the only guy that kicked Trump's ass in an election.

Lisa Desjardins:

But for most Democrats, far less resolve, or even clarity, on the next step.

How do you make this decision?

Rep. Hank Johnson(D-GA):

This decision has not been made yet. I don't know how our leadership will handle this, but I do know that we will be making a decision, a collective decision, and then we will move forward.

Amna Nawaz:

And Lisa joins us live now from Capitol Hill.

So, Lisa, we saw what lawmakers are willing to say on camera there. What are your sources telling you off camera?

Lisa Desjardins:

Democrats are in a stutter step moment.

Now, for the last day, it has been clear that President Biden has gained some momentum here at the Capitol, as there have been fewer and fewer voices coming out publicly against him, not zero, but fewer. And behind the scenes, more and more Democrats have said they feel leery of coming out against him.

This is in part due to the Congressional Black Caucus and also leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last night backing him up, saying he has to remain as the nominee.

But I will say, it's interesting. The few people that I — were able to speak publicly did say some interesting things on the record. Senator Dick Durbin, of the — who is the number two Democrat in the Senate, told me off camera — I asked him, should Biden step aside? He said "That remains to be seen." This was just a couple of hours ago.

He said: "Biden is putting together a campaign that will demonstrate whether he is ready to beat Donald Trump."

We need to see what that campaign is. Clearly, the president is trying to get out more, but he is also trying to contact more people in the Democratic Party. Laura Barron-Lopez reports that he will be meeting virtually with Democratic mayors tonight and will take their questions.

But even as the Biden campaign tells me they feel things are swinging in their direction, there are others who are going the other way, like Mikie Sherrill, a representative from New Jersey, a key moderate, someone who has potentially greater ambitions ahead, is someone who came out with a statement today saying that she thinks Biden should step aside.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa, for those Democrats who are now calling for President Biden to step aside, what's their plan B? What do they want to see happen?

Lisa Desjardins:

There is, in fact, a plan B developing, but nearly every Democrat will say it is up to Joe Biden to step aside. They do not believe, they do not see a way to force him out.

But that plan B developing is Vice President Harris. In fact, there are some that are — said openly, I'm told, in today's House meeting that Harris would be better against Donald Trump than Joe Biden. That is a disagreement. Not everyone agrees on that.

There are others who go even farther, saying that they would like to see Harris put on a ticket with a Midwestern governor. Some names mentioned there are Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer. Harris herself was on the campaign trail today for Biden, but she spoke a lot about Trump, which is what Democrats want to hear more of.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, what's the latest that we're hearing today in response to all this from the White House and from the Biden campaign?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right.

The White House and Biden campaign are both saying, full steam ahead. They say they are contacting more and more lawmakers, like the mayors that we talked about earlier. The chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, Pramila Jayapal, says she expects to have a face-to-face meeting with Biden as well.

So it's a full-court press, basically. And they do believe that momentum will keep swinging this way. They know that the time is short for Democrats to try and effectively move Biden or pressure him to be out of the nomination.

Amna Nawaz:

And, Lisa, for the Democrats who continue to stand with President Biden, are they essentially saying, we're not sure he's the best candidate, but he's the candidate we have, so we have to unify behind him?

Lisa Desjardins:

Almost in those exact words, Amna. It's a strange position Democrats are in here.

They are saying, literally, we support our nominee. That's sentence one. And then second sentence will be, right now, that nominee is Joe Biden.

What the Biden campaign needs to happen is for Democrats to take out that phrase right now. More and more Democrats on the fence have been communicating with me, lawmakers saying that they think he will be able to survive this. But the Biden campaign says he's not quite there yet.

Amna Nawaz:

In the less than a minute we have left, the big question is, what happens next?

Lisa Desjardins:

Right.

Well, there will be more meetings here at the Capitol. On Thursday, Senate Democrats meet in their caucus. But to be honest, there really is no clear way to make this decision for Democrats. They are watching every single tick on the campaign trail, everything the president and his campaign does.

They are also watching other pieces of news, like, for instance, this one that happened just in the last few hours. The Cook Political Report with our own Amy Walter, friend of the "News Hour," of course, came out and said, because of the environment now, they are predicting that more states are leaning Republican, moving more towards Trump.

That includes three battleground states that were toss-ups that they now say will be lean Republican, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. That is something Democrats I talked to just now really are hearing and listening and worried about in terms of how they see President Biden.

Amna Nawaz:

Our Lisa Desjardins live on Capitol Hill.

Lisa, thank you.