Black House Democrats throw weight behind Biden amid party infighting

As President Joe Biden faces criticism over his poor debate performance and ability to handle a second term in the White House, leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus are coming out in force to throw their support behind the incumbent.

Several black House Democrats, including caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (D-NV) and Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), are going all in on Biden, while some such as Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) are admonishing their colleagues for raising concerns about Biden’s viability as the likely Democratic nominee.

Biden plans to call into a Congressional Black Caucus meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday night to “discuss the stakes of the 2024 election and their shared commitment to beating Donald Trump this November,” the Biden campaign and a House Democrat source confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The call will also provide an opportunity for CBC members to ask the president questions, the campaign said.

Displays of solidarity and unity within the Democratic Party will be key for Biden’s campaign moving forward in the 2024 election, especially as any signs of fracturing risks alienating black voters — a crucial demographic that helped Biden win the presidency in 2020.

Black voters, in particular, boosted Biden’s narrow victories in key battleground states in 2020. Historically a reliable ally of the Democrats, particularly for Biden, the president garnered 92% of votes from black people. Trump received 8% of the black vote in 2020 and 6% in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center.

Biden has a significant advantage over Trump with black voters this time around, with his choosing of Kamala Harris as the first black female vice president and nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first black woman to the Supreme Court. However, Biden will likely need to rely on strong support from black lawmakers if he wants to secure a second term.

Horsford, who faces a competitive general election in November, said in a statement on Monday that Biden “is the nominee” and voters across the United States and in Nevada are “moving forward.”

“They’re focused on moving forward and reject the divisive politics of those who would like to take us back,” Horsford said. “They know President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting for them. Like me, they don’t want to see Donald Trump back in the White House and are ready to work and VOTE to ensure that doesn’t happen. We’re not going back, we’re moving forward.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), a senior black House Democrat, solidified his support for the president on Monday as well.

“I want to make it clear: As a senior Democrat in the U.S. House, I fully support our President and Vice President, and we will defeat Trump again! #BackingBiden #BackingBidenHarris,” Thompson posted on X.

Torres, a CBC member, issued a warning to his fellow Democrats on Monday, arguing that statements about whether Biden is fit to be the nominee are “self-destructive” and could further weaken the president in the general election race.

“Those publicly calling on President Biden to withdraw should ask themselves: what if the President becomes the Democratic nominee? The drip, drip, drip of public statements of no confidence only serve to weaken a President who has been weakened not only by the debate but also by the debate about the debate,” Torres said in a statement Monday.

“Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election,” the New York Democrat continued. “The piling-on is not so much solving a problem as much as it is creating and compounding one.”

While some polls have shown black people trending away from Democrats, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) recently dismissed indicators that Biden is losing black support to former President Donald Trump.

“Something is amiss with the polling,” Clyburn, a CBC member and Biden-Harris campaign co-chair who is credited with saving Biden’s 2020 White House bid with a key win in South Carolina, said last month. “Anybody who believes that Donald Trump will get 30% of the Black male vote or 12% of the Black female vote — I got a bridge down there on Johns Island I’ll sell you.”

The South Carolina Democrat has offered various views of support for Biden and Harris. This comes after Biden called prominent Democrats, including Clyburn, last week to rally support in the days following his lackluster display on the debate stage.

So far, several House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step down as the presumptive nominee. Former Louisiana Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond pointed out to Politico in a Monday interview that those who have declared that opinion are mostly white Democrats.

“I think it’s interesting that not one African American member [of Congress] has called on the president to step down,” Richmond said, adding that these lawmakers “risk alienating some of their base” by rescinding support for Biden.

Wilson has also blasted her Democratic colleagues for criticizing Biden and calling for him to withdraw from the race, arguing that anyone who does so “needs to get their priorities straight.”

“What Democrats need to be doing is stop listening to these political pundits and focus on what’s at stake this election: our democracy,” Wilson said in a statement Sunday. “End of story. I stand with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and so should all Americans.”

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and former CBC Chairwoman Joyce Beatty (D-OH) echoed Wilson’s statements, with both saying they are “100%” behind Biden.

“We are standing up with the Biden-Harris team because they have delivered for protecting our freedom and our democracy,” Beatty said.

Blunt Rochester said in a post to X that she is “100% ridin’ with Biden” and he is the “only one we can count on to defeat Donald Trump. And he will win.”

Not all black Democrats are unified with the president, however. Michael B. Moore, candidate for South Carolina’s 1st District who faces an uphill battle to unseat Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), called on Biden to step down and for the party to find a new nominee.

“This is the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Moore said in a statement on July 4. “What happens this November will set our country and our democracy on one of two courses, and the outcomes will be felt for generations to come. The party needs to come together to identify and rally around a new nominee, and look to President Biden’s experience as the only candidate to beat Donald Trump less than four years ago.”

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Some Democrats are brushing off claims that the debate caused such great concern that a new nominee is needed. Rep. Al Green (D-TX), a CBC member, said in an interview with MSNBC on Sunday that he is “not so concerned that I have concluded that I will not support President Biden.”

“I’m supporting him. I do believe he is the best person for the job. I’m not just saying, ‘I support him, and if there’s another person out there, let’s look for that person.’ I’m not in that camp,” Green added.