Reports of Biden Withdrawal, Open Democratic National Convention Abound

A number of outlets have reported that the president is prepared to step down as the standard bearer of the Democratic Party.

Mark Makela/Getty Images
Presidents Biden and Obama on November 5, 2022 at Philadelphia. Mark Makela/Getty Images

Reports that President Biden is preparing to step down as the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee are bubbling up, much to the delight of anti-Biden liberals and Republicans currently gathering in Wisconsin.

The prospect of an open convention, proponents argue, could reinvigorate a party that has seemingly been marching toward defeat for weeks. 

On Wednesday, it was first reported by ABC News that Senator Schumer met with the president at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to tell him that Democratic senators are no longer confident in his ability to lead the ticket. On the same day, it was leaked to CNN that Speaker Pelosi held a tense call with Mr. Biden and his senior staff to tell him that he could not win the election. 

“Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told President Joe Biden in a recent conversation that polling shows that the president cannot defeat Donald Trump and that Biden could destroy Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November if he continues seeking a second term,” the outlet reported. 

Even President Obama, the incumbent’s own friend and former boss, is reportedly telling Democrats that he has deep concerns about Mr. Biden’s campaign. The outlet reported that the two men have only spoken once, but Mr. Obama has spoken to Ms. Pelosi multiple times since that same event in order to discuss their shared fears about Mr. Biden being defeated in November. 

By Thursday, as the president was quarantining in Delaware with Covid, aides and allies began to tell members of the press that the president was preparing to drop out of the race. Mark Halperin of Newsmax reported that Mr. Biden would step down as the presumptive Democratic nominee by the end of the weekend in order to allow for an open convention to take place. 

The vice president wouldn’t get the endorsement of her boss, but would have to compete at an open convention against other Democratic candidates. 

Ezra Klein from the New York Times, who called on Mr. Biden to step down earlier this year, described the events of the past few days as “getting very, very real.”

The absence of Mr. Biden from the campaign trail as he is holed up at his beach home certainly doesn’t help the rumors that he is preparing to leave the race. Ms. Harris has been campaigning — much mors effectively than the president ever could — in recent days, building her case against Senator Vance as the GOP candidate for vice president. 


The New York Sun

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