Joe Biden to meet with Democratic governors amid concerns over his fitness for presidential race

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Joe Biden is set to meet with Democratic governors on Wednesday as concerns grow within his party about the US president’s fitness for office following a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.

Biden will meet with some Democratic governors in person, but others will participate virtually, one person familiar with the plans said. Another stressed that it was “just a check, not an intervention.”

Several Democratic governors, including Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, have been floated as potential candidates to replace Biden if he drops out of the race. It is not yet clear how many of the two dozen Democratic governors will enter the race.

The rally comes as Democrats have called on the Biden team to make the president accessible to the public through news conferences and other events to try to allay concerns about his acuity.

CNN reported earlier Tuesday that several Democratic governors wanted to meet with White House officials to discuss their concerns about the president. The move was led by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to CNN.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden’s meeting with Democratic governors comes as concern grows within the Democratic Party about the 81-year-old president’s ability to take on Trump or stay in office for another four years if he wins the November vote.

Texas Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett on Tuesday became the first lawmaker from the president’s party to publicly call on Biden to step down.

“There is too much at stake to risk a Trump victory – there is too much risk to assume that what couldn’t be reversed in a year, what wasn’t reversed in the debate, can be reversed now,” Doggett said.

“Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not to himself, I hope he will make the painful and difficult decision to step down,” Doggett added.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, also expressed concerns Monday about the president’s fitness.

“People want to make sure that … the president and his team are frank with us about his condition, that this is a real anomaly and not just the way he’s been behaving these days,” Whitehouse told a local television station.

Many other Democratic lawmakers, party officials and donors have privately expressed serious concerns about the president after a faltering performance in Thursday’s debate in Atlanta, Georgia, amplified public concerns about his age and fitness for office.

Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, acknowledged in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday that it is “legitimate” to question the president’s fitness. South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn also told MSNBC that he would support Vice President Kamala Harris “if (Biden) were to step down.”

A CNN poll taken after Thursday’s debate and released Tuesday showed that three-quarters of voters and more than half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said the party would have a better chance of winning the presidency with a new nominee.

The same poll showed Trump leading Biden by six points, 49 to 43, among registered voters nationwide. The president’s approval rating fell to a new low of 36% among Americans overall.

The CNN poll also showed Harris now ahead of Biden in the polls. The poll found that in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, Trump would lead Harris by two points, 47-45.

Additional reporting by Alex Rogers in Washington