Leaders posted their minds on a call among them, organized by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday. The call tabled the leaders’ appreciation of the potential damage Biden’s candidacy could inflict on Democrats’ prospects of claiming the House majority.
According to CNN, Jeffries did not reveal his own stand on Biden’s candidature but left the issue open for debate among the participants.
According to CNN, the outcome of the leadership call points at a notable division among House Democrats with majority advocating for Biden to step aside from being a presidential candidate. Those notable House Democrats in this stream included Representatives Mark Takano, Adam Smith, Jim Himes, Joe Morelle, Jerry Nadler, and Susan Wild.
However, Representatives Maxine Waters and Bobby Scott reportedly voted in favour of Biden in the leadership call. However, this has strongly revealed the internal divisions within the party leadership.
The call, which spanned for two hours, raised the perceived risk of losing the opportunity to secure a House majority if Biden remained the Democratic nominee. Some of the participants expressed the wish that Vice President Kamala Harris must run under the Democrat ticket since they see her as a potentially stronger candidate.
A new poll shows she is within striking distance of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, in a head-to-head matchup. Harris herself is the loyal vice president of Biden, telling reporters that Biden is the party nominee and that he will beat Trump again after 2020. That hasn’t stopped Democrats from across the party from announcing their support for Harris.