Pelosi and Democratic leaders try to guide their party through Biden uproar

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nancy Pelosi’s phone lit up the night of President Joe Biden’s debate performance with a question that has yet to be fully resolved: Now what?

Calls kept coming the morning after Biden’s agonizing face-off against Republican Donald Trump, and anxious lawmakers surrounded Pelosi later on the House floor.

Two weeks on, the situation shows no signs of letting up.

The uproar that has shaken the 2024 election, and siphoned attention away from Trump and his MAGA agenda, leaves Democrats at a painful standstill, at odds over whether to stick with Biden as their presumptive nominee or press on with the once-unthinkable option of trying to persuade the president to end his reelection campaign.

Pelosi as the former House speaker, along with Rep. Jim Clyburn, a veteran leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, are playing oversized roles as generational allies of the 81-year-old president but also trusted voices from Capitol Hill who can bring frank concerns to Biden. Their work, in public and private, is giving space to the current congressional leadership headed by House Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to navigate the Biden question and the party’s political future.

Watching in disbelief at what the past weeks have brought, Democrats fear not only the White House, but control of the House and Senate in Congress, could be wiped out this November, leaving them essentially powerless to confront Trump and the far-right Project 2025 agenda, which they warn is a dire threat to American democracy.

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