House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) distanced themselves from President Joe Biden Friday after a disastrous debate performance which spurred key Democrat elected officials and power brokers to question Biden’s ability to win in November.
The current and previous leaders, respectively, of House Democrats, Jeffries and Pelosi have raised and spent millions to strip the majority from Republicans in November – money and effort which could be wasted if Biden drags down the rest of the Democratic ticket and Donald Trump maintains his dominance in the polls.
Jeffries refused to comment on the debate Friday morning before darting into the safety of the House chamber.
“We’re going to win the House in November,” the notoriously voluble Jeffries said.
Jeffries addressed the issue later, although his carefully worded response clearly did not endorse Biden’s continued presence atop the ticket.
Noting Biden’s planned speech Friday in North Carolina, Jeffries said, “I’m looking forward to hearing from President Biden. And until he articulates a way forward in terms of his vision for America at this moment, I’m going to reserve comment about anything relative to where we are at this moment, other than to say I stand behind the ticket. I stand behind the Senate Democratic majority. And of course, we’re going to do everything that we need to do as House Democrats to win.”
Pelosi, still a giant inside the Democrat Caucus and the only Democrat whose influence rivals Jeffries’, took a similar tack Friday. The New York Times reported she “speed walked” into the House chamber Friday, ignoring reporters’ questions about Biden.
Yet like Jeffries, Pelosi later gave remarks to clean up her earlier refusal to back Biden, again refusing to praise Biden.
Pelosi said she “admit[ted] that from a performance standpoint [the debate] wasn’t great, but from a values standpoint he far outshone the other guy.”
Other Democrats appear to have followed Pelosi’s lead, refusing to offer even tepid praise of Biden or his performance and instead giving milquetoast responses touting broader Democrat values and positions.
One Democrat went so far to distance himself from Biden that he seemed to confirm charges from many Republicans that Biden himself is not in charge of the White House.
“We have a great team of people that will help govern,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) replied to a question about the debate, insinuating Biden’s incapability of governing alone. “That is what I’m going to continue to make the case for.”
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) attacked Trump while refusing to commit to Biden remaining atop the ticket.
“That’s the President’s decision,” a nervous Reed said when asked about calls emerging for Biden to step aside.
With the roadmap to replace Biden atop the ticket politically perilous and untested, Democrats might just be stuck. And that would be disastrous for House and Senate Democrats already facing headwinds this cycle.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.