Senator Jack Reed, the West Point graduate, Army veteran and Rhode Island Democrat who leads the Armed Services Committee, is hardly known as a troublemaker prone to rash statements.
So when Senate Democrats gathered privately with President Biden’s top political advisers last month to assess Mr. Biden’s capacity to remain the Democratic presidential nominee, the decision by the normally taciturn Mr. Reed to be among the first to speak was notable. What was even more remarkable was what he said, according to two attendees: If Mr. Biden wanted to stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance that underscored concerns about his condition and mental acuity, he should submit to examination by two independent neurologists who were willing to report their findings at a news conference.
It was a striking position for a Democratic loyalist to take, and one that underscored the near unanimity among Senate Democrats in the room that day that Mr. Biden should not continue as the party’s nominee. It was just one of a series of extraordinary moments during a closed-door session on July 11 that would lead Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, to schedule a face-to-face meeting with the president days later in which he urged Mr. Biden to withdraw.
The effort by Mr. Schumer and Senate Democrats to persuade Mr. Biden to step aside was a more pivotal factor than previously known in bringing about the president’s exit from the race, as he found himself with scant support in the chamber that had been his political home for 36 years.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, who appeared on television hinting at her concerns about Mr. Biden and privately made the case that he could not win, has widely been credited as the chief architect of the quiet but intense drive to sideline the president. But behind the scenes, Mr. Schumer and his colleagues — along with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, and former President Barack Obama — were also playing a powerful role.
Mr. Schumer was spurred to action after it became abundantly clear that Senate Democrats, Mr. Biden’s closest political allies on Capitol Hill, believed that he was putting them and his legacy at risk should he stay in the race against former President Donald J. Trump, an assessment that helped move the president to his ultimate choice.
The first glimmers of discontent emerged at Senate Democrats’ weekly Tuesday luncheon in early July, their first opportunity since the late-June debate debacle to assemble and candidly share their views. They were not reticent. Multiple senators were up in arms about the president’s showing and demeanor in the face-off with Mr. Trump. Of about a dozen Democrats who spoke, attendees counted just three who were supportive of the president remaining a candidate.
“It knocked my socks off how upset and angry people were, how the overwhelming majority got up and spoke really strongly,” Mr. Schumer said in an interview.
This account is based on multiple interviews with those with firsthand knowledge of the events, most of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss details of what are typically confidential meetings.
The Tuesday luncheon came the day after Mr. Biden had released a letter to members of Congress insisting that he would stay in the race and expressing frustration with “elites” who were calling for him to step aside. The missive landed like a bomb on Capitol Hill and fueled a sense of panic at Democrats’ weekly confab in the Senate, where two of the party’s most endangered incumbents — Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana — said they could not survive with Mr. Biden on the ballot.
Democrats were particularly alarmed about a political ad airing in Montana against Mr. Tester that featured the senator saying Mr. Biden was “absolutely, 100 percent with it” — a position that was increasingly hard to defend after the debate.
After the lunch, Mr. Schumer immediately reached out to White House officials and insisted on a high-level meeting between Mr. Biden’s closest aides and Democratic senators. The Biden advisers were reluctant to grant one, apparently fearing it could blow up on them.
Mr. Schumer had been publicly asserting support for Mr. Biden and encouraging his colleagues to take their concerns privately to their contacts in the administration. But now, he sought to force the hand of the president’s team, threatening to publicly demand the meeting if they continued to refuse. He also warned that if they did not agree, senators would go public with their reservations in a flurry of letters urging Mr. Biden to step aside.
The session was set for Thursday in a conference room in the maze of offices at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, opposite the Capitol. Steve Ricchetti, the president’s longtime counselor, was on hand along with Mike Donilon, the pollster and political strategist, and Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair. Anita Dunn, another strategist requested by Mr. Schumer, did not attend. Neither did Senators Tester and Brown.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, was first to speak with what one participant described as a passionate plea for Mr. Biden to protect both his legacy and the nation from another Trump administration. She was followed by Mr. Reed, whose intention, a spokesman said, was not to deliver an ultimatum but to impress upon Mr. Biden’s aides the need to be proactive and transparent in the best interest of the president.
Attendees said no one expressed any animosity toward Mr. Biden, only affection and appreciation. But there was a clear sentiment that his continued candidacy meant serious trouble for Democrats — and that his health and age precluded another run.
One senator said there was a clear feeling in the room expressed by multiple attendees, including many senators who had worked with Mr. Biden, that the president was simply not up to continuing his re-election bid.
Senator Joe Manchin III, now an independent from West Virginia, made the case that Democrats were acting out of affection for Mr. Biden, much as a family persuading an aging grandparent to surrender the car keys.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said that if Mr. Biden continued to insist on running, he would be a loyal soldier and keep saying that the president was in good shape. But if Mr. Biden were to have another breakdown, that would make a liar of him, and his constituents would never believe him again. The argument resonated strongly with his colleagues.
Mr. Biden’s advisers pushed back, according to attendees, downplaying the impact of the debate. Mr. Donilon said polling showed that older Americans were still backing the president while younger voters were moving away, but he argued that they could be enticed back to Mr. Biden’s side. Most of the Democrats were not moved and viewed the presentation as similar to one that could have been given before the debate, which was still prominent in their minds.
They could not unsee what they had seen, one said.
There was one note of dissent among the calls for the president to drop out. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania tried to rally Democrats, saying they would be spineless if they abandoned their own incumbent president. He asked for a show of hands as to who was sticking with Mr. Biden. Only two went up: Senators Chris Coons of Delaware, the president’s closest ally in the Senate, and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.
As the meeting broke up, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada also raised concerns about pushing Mr. Biden aside, arguing it could create chaos that the party would be better off avoiding.
The takeaway from the meeting was abundantly clear: Democratic senators overwhelmingly believed Mr. Biden should withdraw from the race. But the next day, Mr. Schumer was dismayed to learn that the sentiment had not been conveyed to the president. He called Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House chief of staff, and Mr. Ricchetti and demanded his own meeting with Mr. Biden.
It occurred the next afternoon at the president’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del. In a 35-minute, one-on-one session with the president, a colleague for three decades, Mr. Schumer made clear what he had seen earlier in the week — that the vast majority of Senate Democrats wanted him to step aside. Mr. Biden appeared surprised to hear the majority leader’s grim assessment: If a straw poll of Senate Democrats were held, he might get only five votes. By staying in the race, Mr. Schumer added, he could taint his entire legacy.
“I need another week,” Mr. Biden told him.
Afterward, Mr. Schumer’s office prepared a brief statement divulging the previously unannounced meeting between him and the president, which they expected to create a furor. Minutes later, Mr. Trump was shot at a rally in Butler, Pa., and the exchange between the two — which Mr. Schumer’s office described only as “a good meeting” — became an afterthought.
Still, Mr. Biden appeared to get the message. He announced his decision to leave the race a week later.
“What happened,” Mr. Biden said later in an interview with CBS News, “was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic.”
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