President Joe Biden eventually admitted that Nancy Pelosi’s concerns about other Democratic elections played a role in his decision to withdraw from the race.
“A number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate thought I would hurt them in the election,” Biden said in his first interview since ending his re-election campaign.
“And I was concerned that if I stayed in the race, that the topic would be — you would interview me about why Nancy Pelosi said [something] “…and I thought it would be a real distraction,” he said in the interview with CBS News Sunday Morning host Robert Costa.
A growing group of Democrats demanded that Biden withdraw from the race after his disastrous performance in the debate against Donald Trump in June.
Joe Biden spoke candidly about dropping out of the race in his first interview since ending his re-election bid with CBS Sunday Morning
Biden said that if he had stayed, the race would have been razor-sharp — even though polls before he left office showed him trailing in every key state and in a tight but subordinate position nationally.
“The polls that we had showed it was a close race, it would have been close right up until the very end. But what happened was that a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I would hurt them in the race. And I was concerned that if I stayed in the race, that would be the issue,” he said.
Immediately after ending his bid, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his spot on the ticket in November. That began a period in which Harris skyrocketed in the polls, with her own approval rating rising as Republican Donald Trump adjusted to his new opponent.
Former House Speaker Pelosi was among those pressuring Biden to step aside, along with other key party leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Representative Adam Schiff.
Biden’s problems were on full display during his disastrous debate with Trump. Democrats, who had spent years downplaying concerns about the president’s fitness, were forced to confront them head-on. Many suddenly called for him to drop out of the race.
In the weeks following the debate, Biden scrambled to clean up the mess, but his efforts only led to more gaffes and mistakes, fueling concerns that the president could hurt the chances of other Democratic politicians in their elections.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among those pressuring Biden to step aside — and Biden said he was increasingly concerned that his continued candidacy would have implications for the fall congressional elections
Biden took a bike ride Sunday morning the morning his CBS interview aired
He ignored a shouted question about claims he was angry about being pushed out, and flashed a smile as he passed reporters and photographers
Biden stressed that he only wanted to be a one-term “transition president” to welcome the new leadership, and acknowledged that he may be too old to be president.
“When I first ran for office, I saw myself as a transition president,” Biden said.
“I can’t even tell you how old I am, it’s hard to get it out of my mouth,” he continued. “But things happened so fast, it didn’t happen.”
Biden’s decision to engage Pelosi comes amid reports of ongoing tension. Senior adviser Anita Dunn, who is leaving the White House to join a pro-Harris super PAC, also addressed the pressure campaign in recent comments.
“You know, there were clearly leaders of the party who decided to go ahead and go very public. And that gave other people permission to go public,” she said.
Asked about rumors that Biden was furious, Pelosi told the New Yorker magazine: “He knows I love him very much. I’m praying so much. I’m crying so much.”
Whatever anger there was over a debate that split Democrats, family members rallied behind his ultimate decision. Asked what he told them right after the speech announcing he would step down, Biden told CBS: “It’s what they said to me. They said, my — my grandkids call me Pop. My — my kids call me Dad. And — they said they were proud, and it meant a lot to me.”
If Biden is still thinking about his decision, he didn’t show it this weekend at his beachfront home in Delaware.
He rode his bike for nearly an hour on Sunday, cheered by visitors waiting to see him. He pedaled past reporters without answering a question about Trump’s comment that he was a “very angry man” because he had been pushed out by leaders.
On Saturday, he and his wife Jill and granddaughter Naomi hit the beach, all while Harris was burdened with speaking to growing audiences in Arizona and Nevada.
He plans his first joint appearance with Harris next week in Maryland. Asked if people would see him campaigning with Harris, Biden said, “Yeah, you’ll see.”
