As President Joe Biden’s campaign scrambles to calm nerves about the president’s disastrous debate performance, Democrats on Capitol Hill are growing increasingly furious at those around him and increasingly despondent about his prospects for re-election — and their own chances of winning House and Senate majorities.
Conversations about a strategy shift are already underway, with some Democratic lawmakers and many deep-pocketed donors plotting how, should Biden continue in the race, to ensure a congressional check on a second Donald Trump term.
“The way I’m talking to my donors is: The House is the last firewall, folks. We have to flip the House,” one frontline House Democrat told Playbook last night. “Ninety-nine percent of the people I talked to can’t get their credit card out fast enough.”
But make no mistake: The despair and frustration are real, and it is pushing upward inside the party. It has been felt acutely by frontline members — the swing-district Democrats who would be the cornerstone of any majority. Donors blew up their phones over the weekend, with some prodding them to go public with a group letter calling for a new candidate, an idea that some discussed over the weekend.
I asked in another thread what candidate other people canvassed for and maybe they shouldn’t be complaining if they didn’t canvass for anyone. I didn’t canvass for anyone and said so. I got one person who said they canvassed for Bernie Sanders. And they have my respect for that. But mostly other than that, I just got downvotes. It didn’t surprise me, but I think it kind of proved what I was saying.
We got Biden in 2024 because not enough people, myself included, did enough to get anyone else. Frankly, in my case, I wasn’t offered an alternate candidate who threw their hat into the ring (Bernie did not) and who I thought would be electable. I don’t have an issue canvassing for a candidate who hasn’t announced they would run, but I personally don’t think it’s a good use of my time.
I didn’t find anything about Doug Burgum or especially Marianne Williamson that made me feel like I should work for their campaigns. They didn’t convince me to put the effort in.
To be clear, Biden didn’t convince me to put the effort in either.