Walz said the president had governors’ backs through COVID and other turmoil, and he vows that they will have Biden’s back now as concerns mount over his candidacy.

By Sydney Kashiwagi

The Minnesota Star Tribune

July 4, 2024 at 1:15AM

Gov. Tim Walz says Democratic governors continue to support President Joe Biden, even as concerns have grown among Democrats over whether the president can continue his campaign for a second term following his debate performance last week.

“We are all looking for the path to win. All the governors agree with that. President Biden agrees with that. He has had our backs through COVID, through all of the recovery, all the things that have happened. The governors have his back,” Walz said, following a meeting he led with other Democratic governors and Biden at the White House on Wednesday.

“We’re working together just to make very, very clear on that. A path to victory in November is the number one priority, and that’s the number one priority of the president,” Walz continued.

Walz led a delegation of more than 20 governors in joining Biden at the White House on Wednesday. Some attended the meeting in person and others virtually, with at least 10 governors having traveled to D.C. alongside Walz, including Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, Kathy Hochul of New York and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

Following the meeting, Walz said he believes Biden is fit for office.

“Three and a half years of delivering for us, going through what we’ve all been through. None of us are denying, Thursday night was a bad performance. It was a bad hit ... but it doesn’t impact what I believe he’s delivering,” Walz said.

Though Democrats have sharply criticized Biden’s debate performance, they have largely stopped short of calling for him to withdraw from the race, even as their concerns have grown over his age and mental acuity. Only two House Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the race, and a Democratic mega-donor, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, also joined the chorus.

So far, Biden has vowed to remain in the race and has not given any indication that he will step aside. Vice President Kamala Harris could be the next option to run if Biden were to exit the race. But Newsom and Whitmer’s names have also been floated as possible alternatives to Biden.

Biden’s raspy voice, lost trains of thought and frequent stumbles over his sentences magnified concerns over the 81-year-old president’s ability to continue his campaign and whether he would be a drag on down-ballot candidates in a critical election year.

Biden has blamed his debate performance on jet lag from his trip to Europe while the White House has said he was recovering from a cold.

Walz, a Biden surrogate and chair of the Democratic Governors Association, has defended Biden since the debate, but has admitted that the president had a “bad night” on the stage.

But other Minnesota Democrats have been more critical. Swing district Democrat Rep. Angie Craig laid out a list of things she believes Biden needs to do to win back support.

“I need to see him out everywhere, talking unscripted, no teleprompter. And he needs to make sure that the American people have the confidence in his ability to run for re-election,” Craig said Tuesday. “I’m talking to a number of my colleagues in the Congress right now, and I think we need to let the president think about whether he wants to continue moving forward. … He’s the only one who can step aside.”

Rep. Betty McCollum has called Biden’s debate performance “terrible,” leaving her party with “serious questions” that the president needs to answer quickly.