As legislators headed back to Washington after the holiday weekend, President Joe Biden dug his heels in further Monday to remain in the reelection race against former President Donald J. Trump as more Democrats called for him to step down.
Biden’s campaign released a letter that he sent to Congressional Democrats that said the party must rally together because ongoing division “only helps Trump and hurts us.”
Before catching a plane to Washington, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the coming week will be critical as top leaders and rank-and-file senators consult each other with urgency in “continuing intense conversations” about Biden’s future.
“President Biden seems to be unequivocally and unalterably committed to continue, and I support him as the Democratic candidate,” Blumenthal told The Courant in an interview. “He has embarked on events to reassure Democrats who may be doubting whether he should continue. Very obviously, he hasn’t persuaded a number of them, but he has enough time to quell the doubts if he does it effectively.”
Blumenthal, who received Biden’s letter about staying in the race, said there is no firm date that is “a red line in the sand” in which Biden must make a final decision.
“He can be advised and even cajoled, but he knows his own mind, and he’ll have to make the decision about who can best beat Donald Trump — and that is the goal that unites him and everyone in the party,” Blumenthal said.
At the same time, Connecticut Democrats have been expressing increasing concerns as state Rep. Christine Palm and former House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz are publicly saying that Biden should leave the race. In the latest move nationally, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Service Committee, called Monday for Biden to drop out.
In lower Fairfield County, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes has been hearing loudly from his constituents. Politico’s Playbook reported that Himes “had gotten several hundred texts and emails about Biden’s age — and not a single one of them wanted him to remain. He also argued, we’re told, that both chambers of Congress would be lost with Biden in the race, a sentiment we’ve heard from most Democrats we’ve spoken to in the past week.”
Himes declined to comment Monday to The Courant.
In a nationally televised appearance Sunday on CNN, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said “the clock is ticking” on Biden’s chances of convincing voters that he has the mental and physical stamina to serve another four years.
While a huge supporter of Biden, Murphy said the president needs to reassure wary voters even after a heavily watched interview with host George Stephanopoulos on ABC.
“Personally, I love Joe Biden,” Murphy said. “I don’t know that the interview on Friday night did enough to answer those questions, so I think this week is going to be absolutely critical. I think the president needs to do more.”
The appearances, he said, could include unscripted town hall meetings so that voters can see him in action.
Concerning Biden’s capabilities, Murphy said, “I believe that he can do it. But I think that this is a really critical week. I do think that the clock is ticking.”
Blumenthal said that the Connecticut delegation had not yet gathered together to discuss their views about Biden and that he could not speak on behalf of the delegation.
Longtime U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, a 75-year-old Democrat who was first elected to Congress in 1998, has been urging calm. Voters need to remember, he said, that Democrat Walter Mondale “clobbered” then-President Ronald Reagan in their first debate in October 1984, but then, only one month later, Reagan won 49 of the 50 states in a landslide.
“You do have to let things settle in and see where we stand,” Larson said after the debate. “Biden understood the issues and didn’t convey them, and Trump spoke mistruths, half-truths and outright lies, but said it with conviction. So, do you want someone who says something with conviction who is a liar or someone that tells the truth and didn’t convey it as well as he should? I think there’s going to be time to convey that message between now and November.”
Trump
While Democrats across the country have called for Biden to drop his reelection bid, Republicans are not calling for Trump to get out of the race — despite his being impeached twice, indicted four times, and convicted of 34 felony counts.
“From the very beginning of the Trump administration, when the Mueller report concluded that Trump violated American criminal laws, including obstruction, to the impeachment to the disregard of his felonies, the Republican leadership has been in denial,” Blumenthal said. “In some sense, Trump is the one who ought to be getting out of the race.”
Biden letter
Biden’s campaign released a two-page, single-spaced letter Monday that clearly articulated the president’s position.
“I have heard the concerns that people have—their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this selection. I am not blind to them,” Biden wrote in the second paragraph.
He added, “I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.”
“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end,” Biden wrote. “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It is time to come together.”
A key issue, Biden said, is that voters across the country cast ballots for him in the Democratic presidential primaries.
“I feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust the voters of the Democratic Party have placed in me to run this year,” Biden wrote. “It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned.”
“The voters – and the voters alone – decide the nominee of the Democratic Party. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party?” he wrote “I cannot do that. I will not do that.”
All the answers will be known four months from now.
“The ultimate test for America will be at the ballot box in November,” Blumenthal said.
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com.
