There has been chatter for days that Democratic governors wanted to meet with President Joe Biden following his disastrous debate performance last Thursday. Late on Tuesday night, CBS News reported that such a meeting will take place on Wednesday at the White House, in person.
Even though these are members of the president's own party trying to figure out how they can continue to promote him as the nominee, the Biden campaign reportedly tried to get them to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris instead, who herself could end up replacing Biden.
As the report mentioned:
The meeting with governors is notable because up until this point, it's mostly been Mr. Biden's top aides and advisers who have been reaching out to elected Democrats to reassure them after his debate performance. Members of the Democratic Governors' Association held a call Monday to discuss the ongoing response to last week's debate and a widespread concern among the state chief executives that Mr. Biden has done little outreach to governors, specifically over the course of the campaign year, according to two people familiar with arrangements for the call.
The Biden campaign had been trying to arrange time for Vice President Harris to speak with governors, but the governors decided Monday they wanted to hear directly from the president.
"They'd like to hear from him directly before going and sticking out their necks for him again," said one of the people familiar with the plan, granted anonymity to speak frankly about them.
Stunningly, the only Democratic governor known to have been in direct contact with Biden since his concerning debate performance, per the report, is New Jersey's Phil Murphy. And that's because he hosted a fundraiser that Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended over the weekend in the New York and New Jersey area.
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Some governors will attend the meeting in person, while others will do so virtually. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota is referenced as one of the governors who will attend in person, which makes sense, given that he's the chair of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA).
Other reports, including from Minnpost, discussed how Walz requested the meeting. "Walz held a meeting with Democratic governors Monday in which the president’s problems were discussed. He said governors were concerned about how they would message the president’s stumbles during the debate," that article mentioned.
Besides being the chairman of the DGA, Walz has also been something of a notable surrogate for Biden, especially as he's dismissed various concerns that voters have with Biden. When Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, also of Minnesota, briefly ran against Biden as a primary challenger, Walz wasn't too much of a fan of such a move.
We'll see what Walz says after Wednesday's meeting.
The other names of those governors who will attend in person, despite the distance for some of them, is hardly shocking. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was hanging around the debate last week, as well as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker were also mentioned by CBS News. Both have been floated as possible replacements, though Newsom more so. Both trail former and potentially future President Donald Trump in a hypothetical match up, though, per polling from Data for Progress.
NEW POST-DEBATE POLL: In a new survey, 45% of likely voters choose Biden and 48% choose Trump in a head-to-head matchup.
— Data for Progress (@DataProgress) June 29, 2024
However, there is no clear advantage among the alternative candidates who could replace Biden as the Democratic nominee.https://t.co/o0lW7DVJ4D pic.twitter.com/cY4OAqN4rm
Another possible replacement and one to watch will be Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, another potential replacement.
Although California and Illinois might not so much be in play, Michigan most certainly is, and Whitmer recently reportedly warned that her state, "in the wake of the debate, was no longer winnable for Biden." Even Minnesota is looking to be a battleground state this November, with Walz admitting as much last Sunday, even before the debate took place.
Speaking of Harris, she did herself no favors on Tuesday when speaking with CBS News. She provided distorted and hypocritical responses about Monday's Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity with Trump v. United States and also turned to debunked narratives to lambast Trump.
Tellingly, she insisted that "Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we're going to beat him again. Period." She also didn't exactly answer when asked "are you willing to lead the country if necessary," instead saying "I am proud to be Joe Biden's running mate, thank you."
In response to Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett's call for President Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, Vice President Harris says, "Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we're going to beat him again."@NidiaCavazosTV: "Are you ready to lead the country… pic.twitter.com/rSanOZmMJn
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 2, 2024
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