As voices and momentum urging President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign grow, Wyoming Democrats say they understand the desire of many voters for a younger candidate but worry about the party’s chances of making a candidate switch so close to the election.
Biden has received an onslaught of criticism since his disastrous debate with former President Donald Trump in June. Many Democrats have called for him to drop out of the race, and in recent days that pressure has increased, with leading California Democratic congressman Adam Schiff calling for his departure on Wednesday.
Even as the pressure on Biden mounts, the Wyoming Democratic Party continues to voice its public support for Biden on its social media pages.
Joe Barbuto, chairman of the state party, said he’s still standing behind Biden, and believes the president is more than capable of performing the job.
“I’m supporting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ reelection efforts,” he said. “I think they’ve done a phenomenal job.”
Other state Democrats offered a wide range of opinions, demonstrating just how fluid the situation remains with a little more than three months remaining before the November presidential election.
On Thursday, Axios reported that several top Democrats believe the rising pressure of party congressional leaders and close friends will persuade Biden to drop out of the presidential race as soon as this weekend.
An AP poll released on Wednesday showed that nearly two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to withdraw from the race.
ABC News reported on Tuesday that a new letter is being circulated among Democrats on Capitol Hill calling on the Democratic National Committee to delay a virtual roll call on Biden's nomination -- which could take place as early as Sunday.
On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that former president Barack Obama has told allies in recent days that Biden’s path to victory has greatly diminished, and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy.
Trump has even hinted how he feels about the matter, saying last week that he hopes Biden stays in the race.
Barbuto said Trump should be the one being pressured to step aside, and he questioned why members of the Wyoming Republican Party aren’t the ones questioning their candidate’s chances to be elected.
“They ought to be asking whether the Republican Party should be nominating someone who’s been convicted of 34 felonies, led an insurrection on the Capitol, and spread falsehoods and lies about the 2020 election,” he said.
Disenchanted Dems
Other Democrats that Cowboy State Daily spoke to in Wyoming are split on the matter.
Count Cheyenne Democrat Marcie Kindred in the camp of those wanting Biden to get out. Although she commends his lifetime of achievements, Kindred sees the president as part of the “old guard” and not her “first, second, third, or fourth” choice for president when he ran in 2020.
She’s frustrated that the state Democratic party hasn’t taken a similar stance on the matter. Although she sees herself as representing a different mold, Kindred said she couldn’t disagree when many people told her at their doorsteps during her 2022 run for the Wyoming Senate that the DNC has forgotten about rural America.
“The Wyoming Democratic Party feels paralyzed by reliance on the DNC, which merely pays the bills but does little else,” she said. “This illusion of caring about rural America is transparent, and Wyoming voters express their abandonment through their ballots.”
If the Wyoming Democratic Party were to urge Biden to step aside, it would be extremely noteworthy, undoubtedly catch national headlines, and possibly motivate Wyoming voters to rejoin their party.
Kindred said she feels like both parties have abandoned her.
“We’re all so camped up to the point of political violence, I’m so disappointed in both parties,” she said.
State Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, agrees with Kindred on the need for a local focus and said she’s particularly unenthusiastic about the slate of presidential candidates as a whole, expressing disbelief that Trump and Biden represent the two best candidates America has to offer.
“When the national stage is in shambles, it’s more important than ever for our state to have a vision for the future that we can depend on,” Provenza said.“If the national stage can’t produce the leaders of our country that the American people can look to as strong and effective, then we must show the people of Wyoming that at least here, we’ve got their backs.”
Cheyenne Democrat Jen Solis is currently campaigning for House District 41. The most common emotion she’s seen from going door-to-door, is a lack of enthusiasm for both candidates, a viewpoint particularly expressed by younger voters.
“There’s a sentiment among voters, the majority of which are not super psyched about reliving 2020 again,” Solis said. “They don’t want that to happen again.”
Solis said she would be happy to see a different candidate other than Biden but worries that many people won’t vote at all because of their lack of enthusiasm for this race.
Her political excitement has waned as well. After watching every national debate and convention growing up, she hasn’t followed the presidential race closely this year.
“There’s two possible scenarios and we know how each one ends up- it’s a mess,” she said. “It’s time for this country to turn leadership over to a new generation.”
Stay The Course
Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, has a different perspective. Gierau, who’s personally met Biden when he was a delegate to the DNC national convention, said it should be the president’s decision alone whether he stays in the race.
“He’s the best one to decide that question,” Gierau said. “If he says he’s in, I’m behind him all the way.”
Although Gierau admitted he does have some concerns about Biden’s cognitive abilities -- a main reason many Democrats have asked him to step down -- it’s not enough to make him lose faith in his leadership as a whole.
“The guy ran all across the country and was elected by an overwhelming majority of Democrats,” he said. “Right now, Joe Biden was elected by the voters as the candidate to be our nominee.”
Biden received very little in the form of real challenges during his primary campaign this winter. When questions were asked of DNC leaders in late 2022 about him running again, the party’s leadership unequivocally stood behind Biden.
Buffalo Democrat Greg Haas agrees and believes the conversation about Biden stepping down is unnecessary and self-defeating.
“That ship has sailed,” Haas said. “Trying to get on a different boat right now is like switching horses midstream.”
Haas, like Kindred and Provenza, believes the state party should remain intensely focused on local races. Winning Wyoming’s three electoral votes is a highly unlikely proposition for the Democrats when considering the state voted for Trump with a larger margin than any other state in 2020 and 2016.
“For people in Wyoming to be worried about that right now, to shake that tree, is like buying a lottery ticket,” Haas said.”It’s an unnecessary argument and unnecessary conversation at this point.”
Barbuto somewhat disagrees. Although he admits that Wyoming won’t be a battleground state in 2024, he believes it’s still important for Wyoming Democrats to let their voices be heard in the race. The Wyoming Democratic votes will still count toward the popular vote, which gives a secondary though unofficial measure of the presidential results in America.
“When I cast my vote in the election booth for Joe Biden, I don’t expect it to matter for him winning Wyoming, but I do it for my country,” Barbuto said.
He’s also optimistic that if Democrats can gain local seats in Wyoming this year, it could lead to the Cowboy State becoming more of a battleground in the future.
“We can use that to build off so that we can build a larger capacity of voters that turn blue, so there will be a time when we can make a difference in the presidential race,” he said.
Jordan Evans, chairman of the Laramie County Democratic Party, sees valid points being made on both sides about Biden’s future but doubts that anything could be done to replace him unless the president decides to step down himself.
“Not much can be done to stop him if he wants it,” Evans said.
He also rejects the narrative expressed by some Democrats nationally that preventing Trump from taking office again should be the party’s main priority of the 2024 election and believes electing the Democratic platform should be the sole focus.
Perspective Of A Colleague
Former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson, a Republican, worked with Biden in Congress for the entirety of his 18-year career. In 2022, Biden awarded Simpson a presidential medal.
Simpson told Cowboy State Daily in an interview last week that it wasn’t the first time Biden has felt pressure to step down. In 1987, he said, Biden convened a meeting of members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss whether he should resign as committee chair after being accused of plagiarism.
Simpson said the senators stood behind Biden, sharing stories of how they had all overcome mistakes and challenges in their own lives.
Biden has faced significant adversity throughout his life, and time and time again, overcame it. Deciding whether to stay in the 2024 election may be the toughest challenge he’s faced yet, and Simpson said he might not step down, “even though he can’t fight with his fists at 81 and might mess up some of his elocution.”
“He’s going to do what he’s going to do, I’m sure he’s just as strong-willed,” Simpson said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
