Democrats who want Biden out see flicker of hope with high-level pressure
Democrats frustrated over the lack of a resolution to the crisis over President Joe Biden's future atop the 2024 ticket suddenly felt a flicker of hope Thursday.
Party members, operatives and advisers told ABC News they felt encouraged a day after it was reported that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries all have had blunt talks with Biden about what they see as his almost certain defeat following last month's calamitous debate and his difficulty bouncing back.
Other party members are having increased talks and strategizing among themselves about what the party's electoral future looks like, including whether Biden's torch would pass to Vice President Kamala Harris or whether there would be a shortened primary-type contest to appoint a new nominee.
Taken together, a predicament for Biden that had been previously described as untenable entered an even more intense phase Thursday after the intervention of party leaders, with sources familiar with the situation expressing an optimism that had been lacking since the debate three weeks ago that the light at the end of the tunnel was growing nearer.
"It is very encouraging," said one source familiar with the Biden campaign's strategy. "It looks like Democratic leadership is now applying the pressure that we needed them to. I expect and hope that the president does the right thing and decides not to run for reelection within the next week."
Pressure on Biden had been building since the days after the June debate, where his often-zigzagging answers and sometimes empty gaze spiked long-standing apprehension over Biden's age (81 years old) and their impact on his ability to beat Trump this November.
Since then, over 20 Democrats in Congress have called on Biden to end his campaign, and even more have said he couldn't win and might even take candidates for House and Senate down along with him.
Biden employed an aggressive campaign strategy to allay the worries, including unscripted interviews with ABC News and NBC News and more campaign travel and calls directly with lawmakers. However, there was no reprieve in the post-debate debate -- save for about 48 hours after Saturday's assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Biden appeared unable to catch a break this week, even contracting COVID-19, taking him off the campaign trail and again contrasting his vitality with that of Trump, who was iconically photographed with a raised fist shortly after being grazed by a would-be assassin's bullet Saturday. Beyond congressional leaders, calls for his ouster from the ticket were also compounded by California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff and Maryland Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin.
Still, the president's campaign has insisted that Biden will remain Democrats' presidential nominee, even amid reports that he has become more open to arguments against him staying in the race.
"Anyone who has talked to Joe Biden in the last 24 hours can tell you that is not true," one senior White House official who spoke to Biden Thursday told ABC News. "He is going to win the nomination and then the party is going to need to unite."
Yet reports that Pelosi, Schumer and Jeffries all got involved, even in private, sent a signal to some in the party that the Rubicon may have been crossed.
"Leadership not only told him to step aside, they leaked it. That combined with the data coming out and reports that donors are jumping ship all seems fatal," said one former Democratic House aide who remains abreast of the dynamics on Capitol Hill. "I always thought there were three things to watch: donors, data, elected officials. He needed to get at least one thing back on his side, and he's failed to do so."
It's possible that the involvement by the three top Democrats could open the floodgates to more lawmakers publicly calling on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race, but even if that doesn't happen, "who cares about rando back benchers when you have Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Hakeem?" the former House aide asked, referencing a Washington Post report that former President Barack Obama is also worried about Biden's "greatly diminished" chances of victory.
And now, even though it had appeared that speculation over Biden's future had reached a fever pitch, party members told ABC News that Thursday had a distinctly different feel than the past three weeks had.
"I think the bolts are coming loose on the spaceship. It feels different now," Democratic donor John Morgan said.
"I'm on two different list served with DNC members. There has been an ongoing discussion on this issue since the debate. In the past two days, it's been on steroids," added veteran Democratic National Committee member James Zogby.
The ramped-up speculation particularly excited Democrats who have been alarmed by what polls suggested is a lack of voter enthusiasm for Biden and GOP unity around Trump.
"I think people will be fired up, and all the pent-up angst, all the pent-up energy and worry that's been going on will be channeled into beating Trump. I don't want to say it's a done deal, but I think we're back in the game," one informal Biden campaign adviser said.
Still, it's unclear precisely what comes next, should Biden drop out.
The party is fiercely divided over whether Harris would defeat Trump, though handing off the nomination to her would limit the moving parts in what would already be a chaotic circumstance.
Zogby had previously released a memo laying out a condensed primary of sorts, with candidates having to secure the endorsements of 40 of 400 current DNC members, including four from each of the party's four regions. There would then be two televised debates, and the process would conclude when candidates would be formally nominated and voted on by delegates at Democrats' convention next month.
"This was inevitable," Zogby said. "I hoped that it would have been done sooner, so that there would have been more time for the compressed primary that we had hoped for. But even with the time available now, it still can be done and should be done because it's better for the eventual nominee and the party that this not simply be a handoff, but that it be a process that is transparent and democratic."
The informal Biden campaign adviser disagreed, saying such an idea amounted to a "fantasy" and that Harris should inherit Biden's mantle.
But virtually every source agreed -- if Biden does drop out soon, the party's runway to come up with an alternative is short.
"Every day we lose I lose sleep," the informal adviser said of the narrowing calendar to the convention. "So yes, of course, we're concerned. You're a fool if you're not concerned."
ABC News' Jonathan Karl contributed to this report.
