President Joe Biden is holding a meeting with almost every Democratic governor in the United States on Wednesday night as he continues to face calls from every corner of the political landscape to step down.
Multiple reports indicated that 22 of the 23 Democratic state governors will attend the meeting in person or virtually, with only Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) declining to participate. Of the 22, 12 will attend virtually and 10 will attend in person.
The 10 who will attend in person are Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), Gov. John Carney (D-DE), Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL), Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Gov. Daniel McKee (D-RI), and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).
Biden will meet with them at 6:30 p.m. in the White House’s Roosevelt Room. It’s unclear why Evers won’t attend; he told outlets Tuesday through a spokesperson that he “does not currently plan to join” the meeting and didn’t participate in a call with Democratic governors on Tuesday either.
Evers appeared at Nordic Creamery, a dairy in Wisconsin, on Wednesday. He is the governor of a critical swing state and won’t appear at a meeting where Biden is expected to appeal to high-level Democratic officials for their continued support. He commented on Biden’s debate performance a few days ago, saying, “I don’t care how he performs on that stage. To me it doesn’t matter. He’s a great leader.”
I wrapped up our #JuneDairyMonth celebrations with a stop at Nordic Creamery in Westby to pick up some of their award-winning dairy products.
We’ve been proud to help support Nordic Creamery’s growth through our Dairy Processor and Main Street Bounceback Grant Programs! pic.twitter.com/TskrAepBw6
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) July 3, 2024
In an interview on CNN on Tuesday evening, Kentucky’s Beshear outlined what he hopes to hear during Wednesday’s meeting, saying governors want “a direct and candid conversation with the president.”
“I think we also want to talk about strategy. … When governors get out there, we put our own credibility and brands on a line,” he said.
“And so I think that these governors who want to be helpful just want to make sure when they’re talking one on one with people in our communities that we are giving them accurate and reliable information,” he added.
Pritzker commented as well, saying Biden needs to “communicate more” if he plans to correct his performance.
“I think that there’s a healthy conversation that will happen, with the president, I hope, expressing what he intends to do going forward in the campaign and reassuring everybody that this is the right course to make sure that we stay the course with him,” he said.
Walz, who is chairman of the Democratic Governors Association and the governor of a competitive presidential state, said governors will get the chance to ask questions about “some of the concerns we talked about.” He said he has personally struggled with poor debate performances but the question is: “How does that impact how the country runs?”
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“How does that impact what an election looks like?” he said. “It’s about the differences and the binary choice that we’re going to face in November, how important that is.”
Newsom and Whitmer have been floated as Biden replacements, though Vice President Kamala Harris is the favorite. Beshear has been rumored to be a vice presidential choice for Harris if she took over as Democratic nominee.
