All of the country’s Democratic governors were in attendance either virtually or in person at a meeting with President Biden on Wednesday night, the White House said, amid the ongoing political fallout from his performance at last Thursday’s debate.
Among those at the White House were Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Andy Beshear of Kentucky. All three have been floated as potential presidential candidates themselves.
Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Kathy Hochul of New York, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota were also at the meeting in person. Mr. Walz, the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, organized a call with the governors on Monday to discuss concerns about Mr. Biden’s debate performance, which led to Wednesday’s meeting.
Fourteen governors were joining the meeting remotely, including Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Katie Hobbs of Arizona.
In public comments, many Democratic governors have said that they fully support Mr. Biden. Dan McKee of Rhode Island told a local news outlet on Wednesday that he was going to the meeting in person “to express support for the president.”
Wes Moore of Maryland, who was also attending in person, told CBS News on Sunday that he would not seek the nomination should Mr. Biden step aside. “Joe Biden is not going to take himself out of this race, nor should he,” he said.
Some have said that they saw the meeting as a chance for a frank discussion with Mr. Biden about his health. Mr. Beshear told CNN on Tuesday that the governors wanted to “make sure he’s doing OK.”
Josh Green of Hawaii, who was participating remotely, said in an interview on Wednesday that he would be listening for the president’s own thoughts about his capacity for a second term.
A physician who led Hawaii’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Green said the president had been “on top of it” in their work together on the Maui wildfire. But he noted that both Mr. Biden and former President Donald J. Trump “are older and both are going to have challenges over the next four years.”
Reporting was contributed by Grace Ashford, Mike Baker, Katie Glueck, Jack Healy, Shawn Hubler, Ernesto Londoño, Eduardo Medina, Simon Romero, Jenna Russell and Mitch Smith.
