debate performance swept the ranks of Democratic lawmakers late last week, Sen. Joe Manchin III informed a few key allies that he would soon break with Biden in an interview on a Sunday news show, a high-profile defection that would underscore the president’s weakness.
At one point, Manchin reached out to former president Bill Clinton to talk, but those two never connected, according to a source familiar with the effort. Clinton posted a message of support for Biden on social media after the debate.Manchin’s reversal illustrates Democrats’ rapid tamping down of internal dissent over the 81-year-old Biden remaining their presumptive nominee as the campaign and party leaders argue that only the president and his family can decide his political future.
These Democratic lawmakers and donors say that campaign aides are dismissing legitimate concerns about Biden’s fitness and are furious that the campaign is trying to spin the debate as an unfortunate one-off, multiple members and aides said. The lawmakers worry about Democrats’ ability to retain control of the Senate and potentially capture the House in an election with Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ballot and pre-debate polling showing a tight race.
On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders , who ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020,a joint op-ed with the president outlining their efforts to reduce prescription drug prices. The Biden campaign has sought to tamp down Democratic defections, putting out a flurry of polling and fundraising data to calm skittish donors and lawmakers. White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and Steve Ricchetti, another top White House aide, have spoken with Schumer and Jeffries as part of their efforts to calm the waters,Jeffries has not yet spoken to the president, according to one person familiar with their relationship.
House Democrats across the ideological spectrum remain furious at the lack of outreach and direction from the Biden campaign about the way to unify as a party. A majority of rank-and-file Democrats have not received any kind of formal communications from the Biden campaign other than the standard talking points and memos sent by the White House and campaign.
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