President Joe Biden told a bunch of Democratic governors on Wednesday that he’ll stay within the 2024 campaign, because the group peppered the president with questions on the best way to proceed following Biden's disastrous debate performance last week.
After the meeting, several governors spoke to reporters outside the White House. One of them, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, said: “President Joe Biden wants to win the election and we all pledged our support to him.”
Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said: “He has had our backs throughout the COVID pandemic, throughout the recovery and through everything that has happened. The governors are behind him, and we are working together to make that very, very clear.”
However, he added: “The path to victory in November is the top priority, and that is the president's top priority as well.”
Governor Wes Moore of Maryland echoed this sentiment.
In an announcement, California Governor Gavin Newsom said: “I heard three words from the president – he's all in. And so am I.”
And Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan expressed her support on the social media site X.
At the tip of the meeting, Vice President Kamala Harris described the risks to democracy that a victory by former President Donald Trump could pose. According to an individual with knowledge of the events, she used at the very least one curse word in her remarks.
But Hochul's statement that governors had “pledged their support” to Biden fearful some on the meeting, in accordance with the person briefed on the event and one other one that was also briefed. Both people said there was no request for support within the room and greater than a half-dozen governors expressed concern after Biden's halting, whispered performance in the controversy against Trump in Atlanta.
One of the people briefed on the events told Biden bluntly that his age was advantageous, but people didn't imagine he could run. Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut said he needed to make his case to voters. Another asked Biden the best way to proceed. (An aide to Mills didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.)
The meeting was quickly convened and arranged by Walz after the governors met amongst themselves on Monday. Many of those attending the meeting expressed anger at not having had direct contact with Biden and still not having a transparent idea of what was occurring after the controversy.
The governors are amongst Biden's staunchest defenders – Newsom will headline the president's campaign rallies in Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire this weekend – and so they are amongst those most fearful a couple of second Trump administration. The governors were those who grappled most with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, at a time when Trump doled out aid to states based on which governors were personally subservient to him, or at the very least uncritical.
But they were also in search of answers.
Governor Josh Green of Hawaii, who attended the meeting virtually and is a health care provider leading his state's response to the pandemic, said: “The president has stated that he is staying in the race. He has been open about being exhausted on debate day and was very direct about it.”
Green added that Biden was “clear and focused during our meeting, and I found him to be solid.” He said Harris had been “amazingly helpful” and described a Biden presidency as far preferable to a different 4 years of Trump's term.
However, he added: “I suspect people need to see the president in person and on television to be convinced that he is up to the task.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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