(NewsNation) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is “privately signaling” he’s open to President Joe Biden leaving the ticket, according to Axios.
Schumer previously amplified statements of support for Biden, the party’s presumptive nominee, despite backlash following Biden’s debate performance.
“As I’ve said before, I’m with Joe,” Schumer said during his weekly press conference.
Axios reports that over the last 12 days, Schumer “has been listening to donors’ ideas and suggestions about the best way forward for the party,” according to three people familiar with the matter.
Biden’s letter to lawmakers
Earlier Monday, Biden said in a letter sent to Democratic lawmakers that he’s “firmly committed” to running in the 2024 election.
Writing in the letter that he’s had “extensive conversations” with party leadership, elected officials and voters over the past 10 days, Biden added they have “good faith fears and worries” about what is at stake in this election.
“Believe me, I know better than anyone the responsibility and the burden the nominee of our party carries,” Biden wrote.
However, “the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now,” Biden wrote. “And it’s time for it to end.”
Biden has fielded questions over whether he should be the Democratic nominee for president following his highly criticized performance at the first presidential debate two weeks ago. As he debated presumptive Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump, Biden stumbled through his words and appeared at times to be confused. Although Trump made multiple false statements during the debate, concerns over Biden’s age and mental fitness took center stage.
To Democrats in Congress, though, Biden wrote, “I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.
“We have a historic record of success to run on.”
What the polls are saying
The Cook Political Report is now predicting that former President Donald Trump will win a trio of critical swing states: Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. Biden won all three of those states in 2020.
A New York Times analysis of recent polling also showed that if the election were held today, Trump would win with 312 Electoral College votes, taking nearly every swing state with him along the way.
While the Cook Political Report still lists Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as toss-ups, Trump currently leads in the most recent polls in all three states. Biden won all three in 2020, and those states could prove critical in determining a winner this November, too.
NewsNation’s Tom Dempsey and Kellie Meyer contributed to this report.