Pelosi moving behind the scenes to get Biden to reconsider presidential run

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is working furiously behind the scenes to put pressure on President Biden to reconsider his place at the top of the 2024 ticket, according to a number of Democratic lawmakers familiar with her efforts.

The Speaker emerita is talking to a broad swath of House Democrats — from front-liners in tough districts to hardened veterans with institutional clout — to pump the brakes on the notion that Biden should definitively be the party’s nominee heading into November, these lawmakers said.

Pelosi has not said Biden should exit the race, but the lawmakers said she harbors deep concerns about Biden’s ability to defeat former President Trump, and she’s fighting to prevent the party from rubber-stamping Biden’s candidacy before there’s a broader discussion about the potentially damaging consequences of that decision.

“I did have a conversation with her. She is very concerned,” said a House Democratic lawmaker who spoke anonymously to discuss a sensitive topic. “It’s not like she’s like, ‘We’re sticking with this guy.'”

A number of other lawmakers have had similar discussions. 

“I’ve had my own conversations with her,” a second Democrat said.

“It’s just an obvious concern. The stakes are so high. We can’t afford to do anything but have our best possible opportunity to win,” the lawmaker said, relaying Pelosi’s message. 

Pelosi’s push for a deeper assessment of Biden’s candidacy, sources say, is rooted in concerns that the president’s campaign has responded to his disastrous June 27 debate performance with emotional appeals to staunch allies and a show of forceful defiance — but not an honest reckoning with underlying image problems or an objective analysis of the political fallout.

“Team Biden made it clear what their strategy was: Ignore the problem, run out the clock and force the rest of us to live with it,” said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who has publicly called on Biden to step aside. “I felt a certain urgency to upset that strategy.”

To stem the debate backlash, Biden quickly staged a phone call with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), perhaps his strongest support base in the Capitol, but not other groups or the full Democratic caucus.

Pelosi, some Democrats said, is giving voice to other lawmakers who felt the decision regarding Biden’s future was being rammed down their throats without a chance to weigh in.

“Pelosi speaks for the sense that, if you’re going to circle the wagons, you need a lot more wagons in the circle,” said a third Democratic lawmaker familiar with her efforts. “You have to have a real conversation with people to decide it all together. And you can’t present people with a judgment.”

Pelosi is encouraging front-line lawmakers to do whatever it takes to keep their seats, even if it means public calls for Biden to bow out, while telling safe-seat Democrats to take their concerns directly to the White House. Pelosi declined to comment when asked about those efforts, but her spokesperson issued a statement saying she’s committed to whatever course Biden takes. 

“Speaker Pelosi fully supports whatever President Biden decides to do. We must turn our attention to why this race is so important: Donald Trump would be a disaster for our country and our democracy,” spokesperson Ian Krager said.

Pelosi is a longtime Biden ally. As Speaker during the first two years of Biden’s presidency, the pair worked together to pass major legislation to combat COVID-19, rein in health care costs and boost funding for infrastructure projects. 

But Pelosi is also a pragmatist, with a keen eye on political trends and a killer instinct for winning. Like many Democrats, she has warned that Trump poses an existential threat to the national well-being, and the party’s primary goal is to prevent him from winning a second term — whatever it takes. 

In the wake of Biden’s shaky debate in Atlanta last month, the president raced to shore up support, writing a defiant letter to Democrats saying he was staying in the race and staging the call with CBC members, who quickly declared virtually unanimous support.

The efforts created an initial perception, however temporary, that the president had silenced his critics and paved the way to secure the nomination at next month’s convention. But there were plenty of cracks in that wall of support, as lawmakers privately voiced deep anxieties about Biden’s chances of victory, and a slow but steady drip of Democratic lawmakers went public in urging the president to bow out of the race. 

On Wednesday, Pelosi amplified those anxieties in an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, where she declined to endorse Biden explicitly. Instead, she said the president has to decide if he is going to continue his candidacy and suggested that bowing out of the election is still on the table despite Biden’s adamant — and repeated — declarations that he is staying in the race.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” Pelosi said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short.”

The remarks were a sharp departure from Pelosi’s sentiments immediately after the debate, when she voiced support for Biden and rebuffed calls for him to step aside. And her insinuation that Biden’s next steps are an open question raised eyebrows in the Capitol, where a number of Democrats say she was objecting to the notion that Biden’s candidacy is a done deal.

“It’s very clear that she doesn’t think that this matter is settled,” one House Democrat, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive deliberations, told The Hill. “And that Joe Biden’s statement — ‘I’m running; shut up’ — she said, ‘No, we’re still talking about this.’”

“She is clearly keeping this situation very open, very fluid,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (Texas), who was the first House Democrat to call on Biden to step aside.

Top House Democrats echoed Pelosi’s sentiment, telling reporters that the future of Biden’s candidacy is a decision for the president to make. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said “that’s a question you have to ask President Biden” when asked if Biden’s vow to remain in the race is final; House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) told reporters “as always, this decision is up to the president”; and Rep. James E. Clyburn (S.C.) responded “you have to ask him” when pressed on if Biden has made his ultimate decision.

The comments from Pelosi, however, stand on a level of their own.

Pelosi led House Democrats for nearly two decades, a tenure during which she became known for her tactical politicking, keen eye for winning, shrewd understanding of her caucus and, through it all, an innate propensity to choose her words very carefully, especially on matters of great importance.

“She’s someone who everyone listens to, and her words are chosen carefully and received seriously,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said.

She also has a close relationship with the president. Pelosi was atop the House Democratic Caucus for Biden’s entire time as vice president and the first half of his presidency — including four years as Speaker — circumstances that had the two veteran Democrats working hand in hand.

Those dynamics, the House Democrat said, lend a unique gravity to her voice in the current conversation.

“She has a huge role to play in this,” the lawmaker said. “She is someone to watch closely.”

“She has a relationship with the president, she has a relationship with the campaign, she is a credible messenger because of that,” the lawmaker continued. “And also because she’s Nancy Pelosi. She’s awesome, top to bottom in everything she does and thinks about. So people are gonna listen to her.”