(NewsNation) — A meeting next week between Democrats in the House of Representatives is expected to be tense and even “rowdy” as concerns over President Joe Biden’s fitness as a candidate loom over the 2024 Election, a source tells NewsNation.
“If leadership tells members to ‘cool it’ on concerns over Biden, that won’t go over well,” a high-level aid to a moderate Democrat said.
The regularly scheduled caucus meeting set for Tuesday morning will be the first time all members are under one roof, and able to express themselves to the conference. It’s possible the gathering may get changed to Monday if there’s enough urgency from lawmakers to hash this out earlier.
Biden faces backlash over debate
Biden, 81, has been facing questions about his ability to lead during another potential four-year term after his performance at the first presidential debate against his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump.
During the event, hosted by CNN, Biden stumbled over his words and appeared confused at times. Trump, on the other hand, made a number of false statements at the debate, with CNN saying he had more than Biden. The GOP candidate said 30 “false or misleading claims” compared to the current president’s nine, CNN wrote.
Now, several people, including Democrats, have publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race. Some prominent names have been floated to become the new Democratic nominee including Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, but so far, they have thrown their support behind Biden and pushed back against the need to choose a different candidate.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, on Tuesday became the first Democrat currently in Congress to say Biden needs to remove himself from the 2024 race. Former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, another Democrat, also said Biden should be replaced, as well as Julián Castro, who served as Housing and Urban Development Secretary under former President Barack Obama.
“Joe Biden is a good man and has been a good president,” Castro wrote on X. “But last week’s debate disturbingly demonstrated that he is unable to effectively prosecute the case against Donald Trump—much less inspire and mobilize voters to the polls.”
Polling coming out of the debate shows some indications of Trump gaining in the aftermath, with a 0.7% lead based on 775 polls, (44.0% versus 43.3%). NewsNation partner The Hill reported. According to The Hill, polling respondents in multiple surveys have mostly said Trump was the winner of the debate.
Biden and his campaign, though, have repeatedly maintained that they are staying in the election.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.