Support for President Joe Biden’s candidacy is breaking down along one of the party’s key pillars: NY.
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who says Biden “deserves our eternal gratitude” for his nearly four years leading the country, called on him to end his re-election campaign and make “room for a new leader.”
That came just hours after Hudson Valley Congressman Pat Ryan, a rising star in the party, issued a Unequivocal call for Biden to step down from the race against former President Donald Trump.
“Trump is an existential threat to American democracy; it is our duty to put forward the strongest candidate against him,” Ryan, who won a special election for his seat in the key district in 2022, posted on social media. “Joe Biden is a patriot, but he is no longer the best candidate for defeat Trump”.
Even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has expressed concern to donors that he would be open to replacing Biden, Axios reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
While the majority of the state’s Democratic delegation and some of its top politicians, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, remain staunchly supportive of Biden, dissent is growing publicly and privately. It’s a remarkable moment for the Empire State, the nation’s media capital and home to a sizable bloc of the party’s most prolific donors, as well as the two Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress, Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The divisions are not neatly divided by ideology, geography or how safe politicians’ seats are in November, underscoring the complex fractures and calculations within the national Democratic Party since the disastrous performance of the 81 year old president in last month’s debate against Trump.
“This is unprecedented,” said Christina Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University.
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For some Democrats, the calculus is deeply personal as they must decide whether to abandon a man many respect and have worked with for decades. Others are thinking strategically about whether the party can unite around another candidate just weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Greer said.
“What if we change course now?” he asked. “What if we were stuck with a candidate who some say had a bad night, while others argue it’s part of a much more troubling pattern?”
This is an issue raised by Bronx Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres, who took to social media to questioning how Biden’s permanence in the race will affect the party’s efforts to regain control of the House.
Pressure is now mounting on party leaders to exert more control over the grassroots, with Schumer and Jeffries treading cautiously in their public statements.
Schumer, who has been repeatedly asked whether he still supports the president, has stuck to his carefully worded answer: “I stand with Joe,” a phrase he repeated even after the Axios report. In a brief statement released later by his office, Schumer reiterated his support, which he said he has made clear “repeatedly, publicly and privately.”
Jeffries has said he supports the president but has done little publicly to quell dissent. He sparked speculation that he was leaning against Biden when he posted on X a Bible verse that follows a passage in which Moses dies of old age and a younger leader takes over. The congressman’s allies insisted he had not meant to imply anything about the president.
There is even the concern that New York, where Biden won by 23 points on Trump in 2020, could be competitive in the presidential racePolls show the president’s lead in the state is narrowing, prompting panic among some officials and consultants, Politico reported Wednesday.
Many Democrats still back Biden
Although Biden faces growing calls to abandon his re-election bid (Vermont Democrat Peter Welch on Wednesday became the first sitting senator to publicly urge him to drop out of the campaign, while Actor George Clooney issued a similar request), there is still a powerful bloc of New Yorkers who remain steadfast in his support.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, has been one of Biden’s most vocal surrogates in his bid to attract more left-leaning and younger voters to the party. It’s a hugely important role as Democrats look to rally voters in key swing states unhappy with Biden’s 2018 presidential bid. Biden’s support for Israel amid the war in the Gaza Strip.
“The matter is closed,” Ocasio-Cortez said earlier this week. “Joe Biden is our nominee. He’s not going to drop out of this race. He’s in this race and I support him.”
Biden has also received public displays of support in recent days from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke said that “CBC members were extremely receptive” to Biden. “I know I’m from the Biden-Harris team“Clarke told MSNBC.
Hochul, who chose Delgado as her lieutenant governor and running mate in 2022, was one of the first national politicians to endorse Biden in the days following the debate.
“Joe Biden is here to win,” Hochul said last week outside the White House after a crisis meeting Biden held with Democratic governors. On Thursday, after Delgado’s criticism of Biden, she reiterated her support, describing Biden as a “fighter” who has often been underestimated.
But other Democrats are struggling to contain concerns about Biden’s age and his ability to beat Trump, 78, who is ahead in most national and key-state polls.
Late last week, Manhattan Rep. Jerry Nadler and Upstate Rep. Joe Morelle expressed serious concerns about Biden’s candidacy, though Nadler later said Biden “will be our nominee and we all have to support him.”
