Biden soldiers on: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur reports on how President Joe Biden is seeking to keep his fracturing coalition together. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker breaks down Biden’s most revealing responses from his news conference.

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Biden soldiers on with Michigan rally and talks with lawmakers as more Democrats defect

By Sahil Kapur

DETROIT — President Joe Biden’s coalition is cracking, and one prominent new defection in battleground Michigan is turning heads as Biden hosts a rally here Friday night. 

Rep. Hillary Scholten, a 42-year-old freshman who flipped a GOP-held district around Grand Rapids in 2022, said voters elected her “to speak the truth, even when it’s hard” and that Biden is no longer the right standard-bearer for the Democratic Party to take on Donald Trump.

“Joe Biden has been that leader for so long; but this is not about the past, it’s about the future. It’s time to pass the torch,” Scholten said in a statement.

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Democrats with the volunteer group Pass the Torch, which is seeking to replace Biden atop the ticket, said her warning should be heeded.

“People should really listen,” Abby Clark, a longtime Democratic organizer and former campaign aide based in Detroit, told NBC News. “That district is exactly the kind of district we need to be winning with a Dem ticket to elect a president and have a majority in each chamber.”

Michigan is a must-win state for Biden, whose path to 270 electoral votes almost certainly runs through the upper Midwest, given his bigger struggles in Sun Belt states like Nevada and Arizona. It’s also hosting a Senate race that is a must-win for Democrats if they want any hope of holding the majority. Some Democrats fear a collapse at the top of the ticket that could damage their congressional candidates and deliver a red wave for Trump. 

Notably, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., the front-runner for the Democratic Senate nomination, won’t be joining Biden in Detroit, with her team citing a scheduling conflict. Other Michigan Democrats are expected to attend the event, according to the campaign: Reps. Haley Stevens, Debbie Dingell and Shri Thanedar.

The event comes one day after Biden’s solo news conference to wrap up the NATO summit, and as a growing number of Democrats call on him to withdraw from the 2024 race. Three more went public immediately after Biden’s press conference Thursday night: Reps. Jim Himes of Connecticut, Scott Peters of California and Eric Sorensen of Illinois. And several more came out Friday: Reps. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado and Mike Levin of California.

Still, Biden is soldiering on. 

Prior to his Michigan event, he sought to shore up his standing on Capitol Hill, joining virtual meetings of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Biden also plans to speak with members of the New Democrat Coalition, which includes some of the party’s moderate voices, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Saturday. And this all comes after he met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Thursday night.

Meanwhile: NBC News’ Yamiche Alcindor and Scott Wong report that members of the Congressional Black Caucus, a key group of Biden allies on Capitol Hill, remain largely supportive of the president. But they want to see a change in strategy and staffing to better position Democrats to win in November — concerns they say they’ve been sharing with the campaign for months.

And as NBC News’ Bridget Bowman, Julie Tsirkin and Wong discovered, Democrats facing competitive re-election battles this fall aren’t eager to say whether they’d campaign alongside Biden.

Two revealing responses from Biden’s news conference

By Kristen Welker

One takeaway from Biden’s news conference Thursday night is how it left Democrats in an uncomfortable middle ground. 

Biden performed well enough — especially on policy matters — to keep the entire Democratic Party from abandoning him. But he also committed several gaffes and errors, underscoring how his debate performance two weeks ago wasn’t a one-off mistake.

Democratic sources tell me Biden is dug in and committed to remaining in the race. They also point to the potential chaos that could be unleashed if he steps down from the ticket.

But Biden’s news conference also contained two responses that were particularly revealing — on what’s driving the president to remain in the race, and if there’s anything that might make him reconsider. 

The first came after a question on whether Biden was fully committed to staying in the race through November. The president’s answer was yes, and he went on to say: 

“Do you think our democracy is under siege based on this court? Do you think democracy is under siege based on Project 2025? Do you think [Trump] means what he says when he says he’s going to do away with a civil service, eliminate the Department of Education? … I mean, we’ve never been here before. And that’s the other reason why I didn’t, as you say, hand off to another generation. I’ve got to finish this job. I’ve got to finish this job, because there’s so much at stake.” (Emphasis is mine.)

But Biden has never clearly answered what “finish this job” means. Is it simply defeating Trump again? Is it more Supreme Court appointments? Is it legislation he hopes to pass, even if Republicans control one or two chambers of Congress? And is there ANY other Democrat who might be able to finish the job? 

The second noteworthy response came after a reporter asked the following question:

“If your team came back and showed you data that [Vice President Kamala Harris] would fare better against former President Donald Trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race?”

“No,” Biden responded, “unless they came back and said, ‘There’s no way you can win.’”

The president then added, “No one’s saying that.”

Biden is correct. Most of the public polls released after the debate still show a competitive presidential election.

Still, he left the door open to possibly exiting the race if the numbers do change.

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]

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