Schumer, Pelosi Appear Open to Replacing Biden as Nominee as Donors Flee

Democratic leaders in Congress are expressing concerns about President Joe Biden’s ability to triumph over Donald Trump, reports find, as the campaign is rapidly losing funds from donors, big and small, further solidifying critics’ case for Biden to step aside.

Axios reports, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has been fielding “ideas and suggestions” from donors and fellow senators about the issue of Biden’s candidacy over the past two weeks. During the recent Senate Democratic caucus meeting on Tuesday, several senators expressed concern about Biden’s chances of winning.

In response to Axios’s reporting, Schumer did not explicitly deny the findings, saying that he “support[s]” Biden and “remain[s] committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November.” Notably, even among Democrats who think he should stay in the race, most are skeptical that Biden can win, reports have found — especially given the series of bleak polling numbers that have been released since the debate.

Other top Democrats are also concerned. On Wednesday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said on “Morning Joe” — Biden’s favorite news show — that she thinks Biden should soon make a decision about whether or not to run.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short,” said Pelosi. “He is beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision.”

Though she did not directly call on him to pull out of the race, her words appeared carefully engineered to plant the idea of pursuing other options in the minds of Biden and his aides, and reportedly made a major impact in the White House.

At the same time, the current House Speaker, Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) has, like Schumer, been fielding thoughts from his caucus about the issue. He has said that he plans on speaking with every House Democrat on the issue — and reports say that he has told members that he is planning to relay his findings to the White House.

Those findings may be bleak for Biden. Multiple reports have found that large swaths of Democrats in Congress don’t believe Biden can win in November, while the list of Democrats publicly calling on him to drop out grows by the day; so far, ten House Democrats have said he should allow someone else to replace him, while Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) became the first Senate Democrat to do so on Wednesday.

“We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night,” Welch wrote in an op-ed on his decision. “[Biden] needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to [beat Trump]. In my view, he is not. For the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race.”

Meanwhile, donors are also expressing doubts. A number of wealthy donors have pledged to withhold their funding from Democrats until Biden steps aside, potentially costing the party millions of dollars.

The campaign is also losing huge amounts from small dollar donors. Politico reported on Wednesday that, according to a Democratic funding operative, the campaign is projecting that it will lose at least 20 to 25 percent of its grassroots fundraising by the end of July — at a time when the campaign should be seeing an influx of donations in preparation for November. NBC similarly reported that the funding operation is expecting a major downturn.

“The money has absolutely shut off,” one source told NBC.