House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday that he is confident Democrats can win in November with President Joe Biden at the top of their ticket. The comment gave the embattled president a public boost at a moment when a growing group within the party is pressing him to step aside.
Jeffries, who represents New York's 8th Congressional District, made the remarks on WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show." The future of Biden's reelection bid remains unsettled, and a wave of media reports on Thursday suggested the president was starting to weigh an exit. For three weeks, his campaign has faced scrutiny over his weak showing in the first presidential debate and over public polls that show him trailing former President Donald Trump in key swing states.
"The ticket that exists right now is a ticket that we can win on," Jeffries told Lehrer. He added that there is work to be done, which he attributed to the country being evenly divided.
Since the debate, Jeffries has said relatively little in public about Biden's electoral chances. Last week he and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, also of New York, met privately with the president. Multiple media outlets reported that the two expressed concern that Biden could hurt Democrats running further down the ballot in November.
Friday's comments were more upbeat. Jeffries said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as a ticket, have "an incredible track record of support throughout the country based on what we've been able to accomplish to date." He declined to discuss his meeting with the president. "It was a private conversation that I had with the president of the United States of America and it will remain private," he said.
His remarks came hours after Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon signaled that the president plans to stay in the contest despite the swirling rumors. "Absolutely, the president's in this race," she said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." She added that people have heard him say so repeatedly.
As a Brooklyn Democrat, Jeffries has a clear stake in how the president affects races lower on the ticket. Some of the closest House contests in the country are in New York state, including on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley. The most recent public polling suggests Biden is performing poorly, relatively speaking, in deep-blue New York. If Democrats win control of the House this November, Jeffries would be in line to become speaker.
Jeffries said the party must keep presenting a compelling vision for the future that aims to improve everyday Americans' lives, and do so in the boldest way possible. If that succeeds, he said, with Biden leading and Democrats campaigning in the House and Senate, "then I believe things will certainly work out for us in November."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Bronx has also voiced deep skepticism about efforts to push Biden out. In an Instagram Live session posted early Friday, she questioned whether those seeking his removal have considered the political and legal risks. "I have not seen an alternative scenario that I do not feel sets us up for enormous peril," she said.
