Democratic governors seek meeting with Biden on path forward after dismal debate
Democratic governors are setting up a meeting with Joe Biden that could come as soon as Wednesday, after more than two dozen of them gathered on a call Monday to vent fears and frustration over the president’s poor debate performance.
The governors’ meeting with Biden — which is expected to be both in-person and virtual — follows a Monday afternoon call on which two dozen Democratic governors gathered to commiserate and share information, seeking to settle fears around the president’s disastrous debate performance, according to three people directly familiar with the call, all granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, convened Monday’s gathering, and he’s expected to fly in for the meeting with the president.
“It was pretty unanimous that the debate was catastrophic and things are bad, but there are disagreements over what is a realistic alternative or how you change course,” said one of the people familiar with the contents of the call. “That’s the ongoing discussion. Some governors say, ‘Joe is the best bet’ and others are more interested in exploring an alternative.”
Another person directly familiar with the call said the governors “sound like any other group of elected Democratic officials right now — utter frustration and nobody thinks the campaign is handling it the right way.”
CNN first reported on the call with governors.
For the meeting with Biden that’s being scheduled, two of the people familiar with the call said they expected it to be forward-looking, as the governors want to share feedback from voters in their own states and hear more about the campaign’s plan moving forward.
“Folks want to know — what's the plan, Joe? What is the plan not only for you, but the rest of us to get out there and carry the flag? Are you able and is the campaign able to maintain the pace?” said one of the people familiar with the call. “Many of the governors want to know, what's next? We've got to rebound.”
The Biden campaign declined to comment.
In the immediate aftermath of the debate, the president held a rally in North Carolina, where he conceded his performance wasn’t great but vowed to do better. Biden is also scheduled to be interviewed by "Good Morning America" and "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos, with portions of the interview airing Friday and throughout the weekend. It will be his first interview since the debate.
In addition, Emmy Ruiz, the White House director of political strategy and outreach, told Democrats close to the administration on a call on Monday that they were working on adding travel to Biden’s schedule, potentially to Milwaukee on Friday and Philadelphia over the weekend.
Biden’s campaign has also held meetings with top donors in efforts to calm their concerns. Staffers regularly cite their strong small-dollar fundraising as evidence of their continued support from Democratic voters, including raising $127 million last month.
On the Monday call with governors, some expressed frustration that they had not heard more directly from Biden and the campaign in the immediate aftermath of the debate. But several governors’ staffers pushed back on the characterization in posts on X, including communications directors for Govs. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Kathy Hochul of New York.
Murphy “was on the call yesterday and spent two hrs with @POTUS on Saturday night. They caught up privately and had dinner together, where they discussed topics ranging from the economy to Ukraine,” posted the governor’s communications director Mahen Gunaratna.
