Democrats are again pressing Biden to consider running again ahead of their own party’s convention

WASHINGTON — Democrats concerned about President Joe Biden’s ability to win the November election are again pressing him to reconsider his reelection bid, using massive amounts of data, candid conversations and now time off the campaign trail after testing positive for COVID-19 to urge him to reassess.

Biden has insisted he will not concede, adamant that he is the candidate who beat Republican Donald Trump before and will do so again this year. But publicly and privately, key Democrats are sending signals of concern, with some hoping he will assess the trajectory of the race and his legacy during this few days of downtime.

Over the past week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have spoken privately with the president, candidly outlining the views of Democrats on Capitol Hill, including their concerns.

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Separately, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington spoke with the president last week armed with fresh data. The campaign manager clearly expressed the concerns of front-line Democrats running for the House.

And on Wednesday, California Rep. Adam Schiff, a close ally of retiring Speaker Nancy Pelosi, became the highest-profile House Democrat to call on Biden to drop his reelection bid, saying that while the decision is Biden’s alone, he believes it is time to “pass the torch.”

Biden, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive for COVID-19, pushed back on the suggestion that it was too late for him to regain political ground, telling Univision’s Luis Sandoval that it was still early and that many people weren’t focused on the election until September.

“All these conversations about who’s leading and where and how are, you know — everything up until now between Trump and me has been basically even,” he said in an excerpt from the interview released Thursday morning.

” READ MORE: Just before the attempted assassination, Trump was ahead of Biden in an extremely close poll in Pennsylvania.

Some national polls show a close race, though others suggest Trump has an advantage. And some state polls have also included red flags, including a recent New York Times/Siena poll that suggested a close race in Virginia.

While tensions about Biden’s ability to continue his winning campaign have eased somewhat, especially after the failed assassination attempt on Trump and the ongoing Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Democrats know they have little time to resolve the party’s unrest following the president’s disappointing debate performance last month.

Of course, many Democrats want Biden to stay in the race. And the Democratic National Committee is pushing ahead with plans for a virtual vote to formally make Biden its nominee in the first week of August, ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which begins Aug. 19 in Chicago.

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Late Wednesday, ABC News reported new details about Biden’s private meeting with Schumer over the weekend at the president’s Delaware beach house. It said Schumer told the president that “it would be better for the Democratic Party and the country if he withdrew.”

Schumer’s spokesman called the report “idle speculation. Leader Schumer conveyed his faction’s views directly to President Biden on Saturday.”

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden told Schumer, as well as Jeffries, that “he is the party’s nominee, he plans to win, and I look forward to working with both of them to advance his 100 Days to Help Working Families agenda.”

But among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds believe Biden should step down and let his party nominate another candidate, data shows. new study by AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs ResearchThis sharply undermines Biden’s post-debate claim that “average Democrats” still support him even as some “big names” are turning away from him.

” READ MORE: President Joe Biden tests positive for COVID-19 while campaigning in Las Vegas, has ‘soft symptoms’

The White House said Biden tested positive for COVID-19 during a trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” including a “general feeling of malaise” due to the infection.

The president, who has spent the last few days campaigning, had been planning to return to his Delaware Beach home before his diagnosis.

Schiff’s statement brings to nearly 20 the number of Democratic members of Congress calling on Biden to drop out of the presidential race following his penniless performance in a debate with Trump last month.

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Schiff said that by withdrawing, Biden would “secure his leadership legacy, allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.”

Schiff is a prominent Democrat and his statement will be closely watched also because of his close ties to Pelosi.

It was Pelosi who reignited questions about Biden after the debate when she recently said that “it’s up to the president” to decide what to do — even though Biden has already made it clear he has no intention of conceding. The former House speaker publicly supports the president, but since the night of the debate, he has been fielding calls from Democrats asking what’s next.

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In response to Schiff’s comments, Biden’s campaign cited what it called “broad support” for him and his reelection bid from members of Congress in key swing states, as well as from congressional black and Latino caucuses. The campaign noted that Biden was joined on a trip to Nevada this week by nearly a dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

But Schiff’s announcement came after Schumer and Jeffries urged the party to delay by a week plans to hold a virtual vote to renominate Biden, which could take place as early as Sunday, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

This Democratic National Committee The rulemaking division is scheduled to meet Friday to discuss virtual voting rules and finalize them next week.

“We will not be rushing into a virtual voting process, although we will begin important considerations about how the virtual voting process will work.” — Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Co-Chairs of the Rules Committee Democratic National Convention he wrote in a letter on Wednesday.