Democratic congressional leaders signaled Tuesday that they are unwilling — at least for now — to launch an effort to oust President Biden, despite serious concerns about his age, mental acuity and ability to be re-elected. After a pivotal day of meetings, there was no consensus on whether he should remain in the race.
Both publicly and behind closed doors, Democrats in the House and Senate from across the political spectrum, including ultra-liberals in safe seats and centrists in politically vulnerable districts, have raised serious concerns about Biden’s viability as a candidate. But no Democratic leader on Capitol Hill has been willing to ask the president to withdraw.
Instead, they pledged allegiance to Biden on Tuesday, albeit with less than enthusiastic or exuberant expression.
“I stand with Joe,” Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the House leader, repeatedly replied, while dodging multiple questions about Biden’s fitness for office.
“We’re riding with Biden,” Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina shouted nine times as he tried to stifle reporters’ questions.
Still, House and Senate Democrats left their respective closed-door meetings on Tuesday deeply divided. Asked whether Democrats were on the same page after the debate, Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee said, “We’re not even in the same book.”
The mood at the meetings was somber, and outside, many lawmakers stared blankly into space as reporters peppered them with questions about Biden’s eligibility to seek re-election and whether their party was united around him as the nominee.
Still, after days of public calls for Biden to withdraw from the race and a flood of leaked conversations in which leading Democrats worried about the potentially devastating consequences of his entry into the race, Democrats appeared eager to look beyond their internal party drama.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” said Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont as he emerged from a private luncheon at the Capitol, where Democratic senators were discussing their concerns about the president’s candidacy and what to do about them. “But we’re not going to negotiate in public.”
Some senators privately expressed doubts about Biden’s ability to defeat former President Donald J. Trump during the luncheon, but said they did not think it would be feasible to change the nominees now because Biden has given no sign he is willing to do so.
“The fact is the president has said he’s going to do it,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. “So that’s where we stand today.”
In the House of Representatives, a veteran Democrat, Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, said in a statement after the meeting that it was time for the party to move on.
“As we look ahead, it is a waste of time and potentially dangerous for Democrats to spend the next few months wringing our hands trying to find an alternative path forward,” Ms. DeGette said in a lengthy statement. “The urgent need right now is for Democrats to stay together and focus on the danger posed by Trump and his extremist agenda. If we do that, we will win.”
But it remained clear that whispered fears about Biden’s performance would be difficult to quell on Capitol Hill, especially among lawmakers facing tough reelection races.
Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio said there is still “a lot of concern” about whether Biden “can go out there and prove that he can make the case” to voters that he can and will beat Trump.
Even Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the No. 3 Democrat, gave a cautious response when asked by a reporter whether Biden was doing enough to assuage concerns within the party about his ability to win in November.
“The president himself said he was going to go there,” Mr. Aguilar said. “This is about campaigning and rushing. My answer is, let’s see. Let’s see the press conferences. Let’s stop the campaign. Let’s see all of this, because it’s going to be necessary.”
Mr. Biden’s strength on Capitol Hill has been sustained in large part by party leaders and key constituencies, including the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. When reporters asked Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, on Tuesday to respond to lawmakers’ concerns about Mr. Biden’s fitness, she responded in part by citing several Black lawmakers who continue to support the president.
And the small ranks of lawmakers who have said Biden should resign thinned Tuesday after Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, who privately told colleagues Sunday that Biden should withdraw, said he still had concerns about the president’s candidacy but that they were “irrelevant” now.
“He is going to be our nominee and we should all support him,” Mr. Nadler told reporters as he entered the meeting on Capitol Hill.
Biden has ignored private and public calls from within the Democratic Party to end his reelection campaign, amid questions about his age, his health and whether he has the energy to mount a vigorous campaign against Trump. He repeatedly sent a pointed message to donors and Democratic lawmakers on Monday that he was “not going anywhere.”
Six House members have called on Mr. Biden to end his campaign, most recently Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, who was also one of six top Democrats, including Mr. Nadler, who said privately during a meeting on Sunday that Mr. Biden should withdraw. But no Democratic senators have called on the president to step aside, even as several have raised serious concerns about its viability.
Carl Hulse contributed to the reporting.
