Schumer privately told donors he was ready to replace Biden as the nominee

REUTERS — U.S. President Joe Biden faced renewed doubts about his re-election chances on Wednesday from heavyweights Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney, who could sway other Democratic lawmakers and financial donors, and two Democratic senators.

Biden must decide quickly whether to remain in the race for the White House in 2024, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime Biden ally, said on MSNBC, while declining to definitively say she wants him to run.

Hollywood star Clooney, a Democrat who co-hosted a fundraiser for Biden last month, withdrew his support with a damning opinion piece in The New York Times arguing that Biden was not the same man he was in 2020.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, has privately told donors that he is open to a Democratic candidate other than Biden, Axios reported. And Sen. Peter Welch said in an op-ed published Wednesday that Biden should step down, becoming the first Democratic senator to explicitly call on the president to step down.

A major donor said Democratic leaders had indicated they would issue statements of concern after the NATO summit, but did not mention Schumer by name.

“It will be a bloodbath,” the source said, referring to the growing pressure on second-tier candidates, even those from states once considered “safe.”

Some Democratic senators are expected to express reservations during a meeting with Biden on Thursday, Fox News reported Wednesday night.

Pelosi’s remarks, which ignored Biden’s repeated insistence that he remain in the race, suggest he could face a new wave of calls from fellow Democrats to leave the race.

For nearly two weeks, Biden, 81, has sought to stem defections from Democratic lawmakers, donors and other allies who fear he could lose the Nov. 5 vote to Republican Donald Trump, 78, after his faltering performance in the June 27 debate.

The president has said he will be the Democratic nominee and is best placed to beat Trump. He said he had a bad night at the debate and vowed to stay in the race.

Asked by reporters about Clooney’s op-ed, Biden responded by showing his support for union leaders earlier Wednesday. “AFL-CIO,” he said, shaking his fists triumphantly, “go, go, go.”

Nancy Pelosi said on MSNBC that she is encouraging colleagues on Capitol Hill who have concerns about Biden to refrain from airing them as he hosts NATO leaders in Washington this week.

“I told everybody: Let’s wait. Whatever you think, tell someone privately, but you don’t have to put it on the table until we see how it plays out this week,” she said, calling Biden’s harsh remarks at the NATO summit on Tuesday “spectacular.”

She declined to say definitively whether she wanted Biden to run. “I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said. “We all encourage him to make that decision because time is running out.”

Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon and senior advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti will brief Senate Democrats at a luncheon Thursday, the Biden campaign said.

Asked to comment on Pelosi’s remarks and Clooney’s article, Biden’s campaign pointed to a letter he sent to congressional Democrats saying he was “firmly committed” to staying in the race and beating Trump.

On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi said she has “always been committed” to Biden, the campaign noted. On Wednesday, she told ABC News she believes Biden could win in November.

Asked at the NATO summit whether he still had Pelosi’s support, Biden responded by raising a triumphant fist.

Other Democrats, however, echoed Pelosi’s remarks Wednesday, suggesting that Biden’s efforts to heal divisions within his party had not succeeded. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he was “deeply concerned” about Biden’s ability to win the race.

In Dallas, Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s frontrunner to replace Biden if he withdraws from the Democratic nomination, addressed a crowd of some 19,000 at an event for the historically Black Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

The election is the most “existential” and important of their lives, Harris told a crowd chanting “Four more years!”

Clooney withdraws support

In his op-ed, Clooney wrote: “It’s devastating to say this, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ‘big F–ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all saw at the debate,” Clooney wrote.

“We’re not going to win in November with this president. Plus, we’re not going to win the House and we’re going to lose the Senate.”

Democrats in Congress remain deeply divided over whether to rally behind Biden or urge him to step aside amid lingering questions about his health and mental acuity. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer on Wednesday became the ninth Democratic member of the House of Representatives to call on the president to end his reelection campaign.

But the public defections are a small fraction of the 213 Democratic members of the House, and party leaders continue to publicly support Biden. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said Tuesday he doesn’t believe Biden can beat Trump.

Biden, eager to turn things around, has surrounded himself with the communities of his most ardent supporters, including black Democratic lawmakers and voters. His campaign has cast his standing with Biden as a return to the loyalty he has shown them throughout his half-century in public life.

Biden was greeted with loud applause when he met Wednesday with a group of union leaders, a major part of his political base, attending an AFL-CIO executive council meeting in Washington to discuss “their shared commitment to defeating Donald Trump,” the Biden campaign said.

Biden cited high rents, expensive groceries and a lack of housing as problems that need to be addressed going forward.

Labor votes were key to Biden’s victory over Trump in competitive states including Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania in 2020.