The president’s defiant letter to lawmakers declaring that he would not end his candidacy no matter what did not stop the stream of Democrats publicly expressing skepticism about his viability.
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“President Biden needs to continue to demonstrate that his debate performance was just a bad night, and that he has a clear path to defeating Donald Trump,” said Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico.
President Biden’s defiant call on Democrats in Congress on Monday to stop questioning his viability and fall in line behind his candidacy did little to quell the groundswell of skepticism within his own party that has engulfed his campaign.
As lawmakers returned to Washington after a weeklong recess, there were few signs that any of Mr. Biden’s efforts to reassure his allies — either through a bluntly worded letter or a phone interview on MSNBC — had done much to mollify growing Democratic anxieties.
Instead, ahead of a day of crucial meetings in which Democrats in the House and the Senate plan to meet separately to discuss a way forward, lawmakers were still openly agonizing over their presumptive nominee, with party divisions about the best course bursting into the open. And more prominent Democrats came forward to air their concerns about Mr. Biden’s path to victory in November.
“With so much at stake in the upcoming election, now is the time for conversations about the strongest path forward,” Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “As these conversations continue, I believe it is incumbent upon the president to more aggressively make his case to the American people, and to hear directly from a broader group of voices about how to best prevent Trump’s lawlessness from returning to the White House.”
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a member of Democratic leadership and the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, said in a lengthy statement that despite her “strong respect” for Mr. Biden, “we need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job.”
“At this critical time for our country, President Biden must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future,” Ms. Murray said.
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Source: nytimes.com
