President Joe Biden worked to further shore up support among his strongest Hill backers on Monday night, hosting a private virtual meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus and thanking members for their continued backing, according to attendees.
“You’ve had my back, and I’ll continue to have yours,” he told the lawmakers, according to three people familiar with the situation, granted anonymity to discuss a private call.
“I need you guys. They were wrong in 2020, 2022 and now. With you guys, I know we can win this thing,” the president told attendees.
Most members of the influential Democratic bloc have vocally backed Biden after widespread intra-party panic over his future on the ticket. Some Black lawmakers have chided fellow Democrats for publicly airing their grievances with Biden’s abilities to carry on. Several members of the CBC, including its Chair Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), issued statements supporting Biden on Monday.
Less than 24 hours after the CBC call with Biden, House Democrats will hold a caucus-wide meeting where they are expected to discuss the party's schisms over Biden. Allies in that room will be invaluable for the president.
Lawmakers emerged from the call praising the president and his record. The discussion had largely focused on policy and Black economic progress, and the president received a warm welcome from Black lawmakers, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
“We think that the call went extremely well. The president was very responsive,” said Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a former CBC chair. “He invited us to have this dialogue. Our chairman did an amazing job of allowing the president to share with us his vision for moving forward.”
And Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.) said he was “elated to hear directly from POTUS that he is all in, and we are all with him.”
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said they’d have “further dialogue and conversation” but praised the “good meeting” with the president.
