In a private call Monday, Democratic governors got very candid about their concerns with President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, and their worries about how to address it without embarrassing him or making him more adamant that he should run, according to CNN.
The governors were reportedly startled to hear that no one on the call had heard any updates or reassurance directly from the president after the debate and over the course of the campaign year. The top Dems were mostly in agreement that they needed face time with Biden himself, instead of with Vice President Kamala Harris or key advisers, to quiet the five-alarm fire.
The call came shortly after key Democratic surrogates flocked to the Sunday TV circuits and local media to insist that Biden who can beat Trump after doing so once before.
On Monday, new reporting claimed that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had privately said that Biden was going to lose Michigan due to his weak debate performance, a claim she later refuted.
She insisted that she has no plans of running for his spot, but the murmurs are getting louder that a younger politician like Whitmer, California’s Gavin Newsom, Maryland’s Wes Moore, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, or Kentucky’s Andy Beshear needs to step in and fight for the democratic nomination at the Democratic National Convention this August.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the de facto host of the convention in Chicago, was reportedly also on Monday’s call, and is a key Biden surrogate who has made it clear he has presidential aspirations, even though he has not positioned himself as Biden replacement (yet).
It looks like the White House is heeding the governors’ alarm, as CBS reported Tuesday that Biden will likely meet with them on Wednesday, with some attending in-person, and others attending remotely.
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