Gov. J.B. Pritzker among governors meeting with Biden

Even before Joe Biden entered a critical meeting with the nation’s Democratic governors Wednesday, among them a loyal surrogate and potential replacement in Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the besieged Democratic president declared to supporters he was in the presidential race to stay.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sought the meeting with Biden on behalf of the concerned Democratic state chief executives after the president’s stumbling debate performance against former President Donald Trump last week. He said afterward of Biden that the governors “have his back.”

“A path to victory in November is the No. 1 priority — and that’s the No. 1 priority of the president. So that’s what we’re trying to get done,” Walz, the head of the Democratic Governors Association, told reporters outside the White House. “The feedback was good, the conversation was honest and open, and the action that will come out of that will make sure that we’re getting that message out.”

Despite Biden’s outreach attempt to the governors, some Democrats said privately it was too little, too late as questions continued to swirl as to whether the president’s reelection campaign would survive.

There was no immediate indication that the more than 20 other Democratic chief executives who attended the White House meeting with Biden either virtually or in person shared Walz’s view. The focus now turns to the president’s efforts to reassure voters in upcoming public performances including an ABC-TV interview on Friday and campaign stops in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Pritzker was one of 10 Democratic governors who appeared in person at the White House, along with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — a trio who have been active Biden surrogates, but who also have been widely speculated as potential successors should the president drop out.

A Pritzker political team spokeswoman said only that the governor reported that the roughly 90-minute meeting “was candid and he appreciated hearing directly from the president.”

Only an hour before the meeting, Biden used a fundraising email to supporters to try to quash questions about his political future, saying, “I’m running.”

“I’m the Democratic Party’s nominee. No one is pushing me out. I’m not leaving, I’m in this race to the end, and we are going to win this election,” the president said. “This campaign is bigger than me or you. Everything we believe in, everything we stand for, and everyone we are fighting for are at risk in this election.”

The meeting convened as a new New York Times-Siena College poll showed Trump increased his lead among likely voters nationally from 3 percentage points prior to the debate to 6 percentage points after the event, with the former president holding a 49% to 43% advantage. Additionally, the poll found 74% of those polled considered Biden too old for the presidency, an increase of 5 percentage points over a poll taken prior to the debate.

At Wednesday’s daily White House briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden had started reaching out to senior Democrats and had “strong conversations” with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn.

“I think what’s important is that he has done this outreach. He’s having these conversations. It is important to him to do so. And the folks that I laid out that he spoke to are, or some of them have been his colleagues. Some of them have been elected officials that he’s known for some time,” Jean-Pierre said.

She also said Biden’s description of his trip to Italy for the G-7 meeting of world leaders was an “explanation” for his poor debate showing and not an “excuse.” The president also was suffering from a cold.

Pritzker, a billionaire entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, has been an ardent advocate for Biden and is part of the president’s reelection campaign team. At the same time, Pritzker has his own presidential ambitions and is on a short list of Democrats being mentioned to head the ticket should Biden drop out of the race.

That has led the second-term Illinois governor to walk a fine line — not wanting to appear too aggressive in his personal political ambitions while also realizing what could be in play if the Democratic presidential nomination became open as his state prepares to host the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.

Some of that hedging was apparent a day earlier in an interview with CNN, where Pritzker acknowledged he had not spoken to Biden since the debate and said the president needed to do more with Democratic leaders as well as with voters to reassure them that he was on the right course going forward.

“I think there’s a healthy conversation that will happen with the president, I hope, expressing what he intends to do going forward in the campaign and reassuring everybody that this is the right course to make sure we stay the course with him,” Pritzker said.

“My word is my bond. I honor my commitments. Joe Biden is going to be our nominee, unless he decides otherwise,” the governor said. “He’s our nominee. Unless he makes a different decision, I’m on board and I’m supporting the president.”

Though the meeting was of a political nature, it was posted on Pritzker’s “official” public schedule to provide notice of the Illinois governor’s personal attendance at the White House. Normally, political activities are not posted as part of the governor’s official schedule.

The conversation with the governors came as more Democratic officials began to question Biden’s ability to win in November. Polls have long shown that the 81-year-old chief executive is unpopular with voters and that the electorate would prefer younger candidates rather than a rematch between Biden and Trump, 78.

Democratic congressman Mike Quigley of Chicago said the stakes go beyond the presidency because negative attitudes toward Biden could become a factor for Democrats in down ballot races.

“His decision not only impacts who’s going to serve in the White House the next four years, but who’s going to serve in the Senate, who’s going to serve in the House and it will have implications for decades to come,” Quigley told CNN. “It has to be his decision. But we have to be honest with ourselves that (the debate with Trump) wasn’t just a horrible night.”

Democratic sources in Illinois said Pritzker has made no overt moves to advance a presidential candidacy pending a decision by Biden. But they said Pritzker’s ability to immediately pump millions of dollars into a nascent presidential campaign is a significant factor in considering him if a replacement is needed quickly.

Pritzker has taken significant steps to advance his national profile, from traveling the country to keynote various state Democratic conventions to creating his Think Big America organization, which has distributed millions of dollars to state groups seeking voter approval of abortion rights initiatives. Pritzker has made abortion rights his hallmark issue and believes it to be a significant motivating issue for Democrats in 2024, two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Republican-led states have moved to significantly limit or block the procedure.

Vice President Kamala Harris presents a significant political hurdle for any of the other Democrats under discussion to lead the ticket — particularly with party fears that bypassing her would alienate the Democrats’ powerful core of Black voters.

Shortly before Biden sent out his fundraising email, the White House announced that Harris would keep up a schedule of speaking engagements through July 24, including travel to New Orleans, Las Vegas and Dallas, to talk to core Democratic constituencies of Blacks, women and younger leaders.

Still, Democratic governors have most often been the subjects of speculation among party members who believe Biden should go, with Whitmer and Newsom also frequently mentioned as potential contenders.

Amid the internal discussions, Democrats largely agree that it is up to Biden to decide his fate, given that convention nominating delegates are pledged to him until he releases them to support other candidates.

The New York Times reported Biden told a key ally that the next few days were crucial in determining whether he could salvage his candidacy.

But Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign chairman, called the story “false” and said the president has not discussed the possibility of not finishing the race. Fulks played a similar campaign role in Pritzker’s initial run for governor in 2018.

“I think what we’re sensing from people is a sense of urgency and fear from Donald Trump. And I think that the conversations that the president has been having with Democrats across the country is one, to reassure them that he is in this race, that he knows that he needs to reassure the American people and that our campaign is going to build in scale to win in November,” Fulks told CNN on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign claimed that the internal party discussions about Biden’s future represented “the total collapse of the Democrat Party” and vowed that the former president “will beat any Democrat on Nov. 5th.”