Biden’s top advisers meet with senators as Democrats’ concerns about 2024 grow

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are meeting privately Thursday for a special lunch with President Joe Biden’s top advisers, Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, as well as Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, according to a source in Democratic leadership and senators.

The meeting comes as concern grows among Democrats about Biden’s diminished standing in the presidential race against Donald Trump, following his faltering performance in the June 27 debate.

Polls show his standing has slipped, even modestly, and many Democrats don’t believe Biden can win. They worry he will bring the party ticket down with him, potentially handing Republicans control of Congress. They want answers from Biden’s team about his plan to turn things around.

“I want to understand their plan to win,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat.

A senior Biden adviser said the message to Democrats will focus on the path to victory and how the campaign sees it, using data to help demonstrate that there has been minimal movement in the broader race — and to make clear that the Biden team has a plan.

They will also try to argue that Democrats should unite — and quickly — before the Republican convention to refocus on Trump and what they see as GOP extremism, the adviser said.

Shortly before the meeting, the campaign shared a “path forward” memo that acknowledged “heightened post-debate anxiety,” calling it a “setback” for the campaign. But the memo asserted that Biden still has a path to victory, noting: “Our internal data and public polling show the same thing: This is still a race on the margin of error in key states.”

A day before the meeting, Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, became the first Democrat in the chamber to openly call for Biden to drop out of the race, writing in a Washington Post op-ed that his standing had eroded and that the party had “a strong bench that can defeat Trump.”

“This is about the president showing up, not being told something,” Welch told NBC News of Thursday’s meeting. “So speaking with us is helpful in getting a sense of how they plan to handle this, but it’s less of a conversation with people who have long liked President Biden. The challenge for him is to address the audience and reassure them of their doubts after the debate.”

Earlier this week, Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, said he no longer believed Biden could win.

Democrats control the Senate by 51 seats to 49 and are virtually certain to lose a seat in West Virginia. To hold on to the other 50 seats they need to retain the Senate majority, they must also defend seats in Republican states like Montana and Ohio, as well as purple states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. Their only chances of picking up GOP-held seats come in the Republican-leaning states of Florida and Texas.

Sens. Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana, and Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, two of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election this fall, said they would not be able to attend Thursday’s meeting.

“I have a full-time job to do here and I’m not interested in campaign meetings,” Brown said.

Tester said he would have liked to attend but there was a conflict of interest. He indicated he would be interested in speaking directly to Biden.

“I always enjoyed seeing the president,” Tester said.

Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, another top Republican target this election cycle, is attending the meeting with Biden advisers. He told reporters Wednesday that he disagrees with some of his colleagues who say President Biden can’t win in November. “That’s just my view,” Casey said.

Democratic skeptics of Biden outside the Senate don’t believe a meeting with his advisers can quell skepticism.

“It’s very easy to dismiss our concerns. You have to show up and show that you’re capable of doing this. I don’t particularly think that sending staffers should, will or can achieve what everybody’s concerned about,” said Aaron Regunberg, a former Democratic state legislator from Rhode Island who is now part of the volunteer group Pass the Torch, which is calling on Biden to step down. “We’re losing by a lot right now.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said three times Tuesday when asked about Biden’s problems: “I’m with Joe.”

And Schumer refuted suggestions that he had said differently in private: “As I have made clear repeatedly, publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring that Donald Trump is defeated in November,” he said.