Politics

Senior House Democrats tell Jeffries they’re privately calling for Biden to step aside: Sources

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on July 8, 2024

(WASHINGTON) — At least four senior House Democrats told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday that they are calling on President Joe Biden to step down from the presidential race, according to several sources with knowledge of the discussion on the private call.

Reps. Jerry Nadler, Mark Takano, Joe Morelle and Adam Smith stated Biden should step aside and no longer continue his campaign, sources told ABC News.

This is notable — it means the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, the ranking member of Veteran Affairs, the highest Democrat on the Administration Committee and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee have privately conveyed Biden should step aside.

Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, whose wife was a major Biden fundraiser in 2020, expressed some concerns about the president’s path forward, according to multiple sources. A spokesman posted on X that Beyer “supports President Biden and said so on this call and any reporting to the contrary is a misunderstanding of what he said and what he believes.”

Jeffries did not express a position, according to one person on the call. That person tells ABC News the Democratic Leader said that he would engage with the caucus throughout the week, starting with these senior Democrats to solicit views on the path forward.

ABC News has reached out to reps for Beyer, Nadler, Takano, Morelle and Smith for comment.

When reached on Sunday, a Biden campaign adviser said the “simple math” shows that the vast majority of the caucus, including House Minority Leader Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is on Biden’s side.

The campaign says they aren’t backing down and they are “ready to fight.”

On Sunday evening, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Susan Wild said in a statement that she “expressed the same concerns that Americans across the country are grappling with, about President Biden’s electability at the top of the ticket” on the House leadership call.

In her statement, she said, “In the coming days and weeks, I will operate as I always have, continuing to have these important conversations while keeping the best interests of my constituents at the forefront of every decision and statement I make.”

Wild, facing a difficult reelection test, has avoided discussing Biden’s debate performance previously, declining multiple times since then to answer ABC News’ questions about the President’s future.