With Nancy Pelosi coy on Joe Biden’s candidacy, where do California lawmakers stand?

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Most California congressional lawmakers have lined up solidly behind the president’s reelection campaign.

But some doubts clearly remain within the highest levels of the Democratic party on whether Joe Biden will continue onto November against former President Donald Trump.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday that Biden needed to make a decision quickly on whether he was continuing to run — even though the president has repeatedly insisted that he is not dropping out of the race.

When asked about whether she wanted Biden to pursue the top of the ticket, Pelosi said, “I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that’s, that’s the way it is: Whatever he decides, we go with.”

Pelosi added that she’s told lawmakers to refrain from opining on Biden’s candidacy until the end of the NATO Summit, which is ongoing in Washington D.C. this week.

Without definitively boosting Biden’s candidacy, Pelosi’s influence is regarded as enormous both among congressional Democrats and probably at the White House.

California Democratic challengers quiet on Biden

In congressional districts too close to call, Democratic challengers are silent.

“It’s clear that Biden has been a drag on Democrats in competitive districts like the Central Valley’s 13th and 22nd for this whole cycle,” said Erin Covey, an analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report which tracks elections.

“I think maybe the debate brings to the surface something that has been an issue for a while,” Covey said in an interview with The Bee on Tuesday.

California’s 13th and 22nd Congressional Districts are toss-up districts crucial to Democrats’ retaking control of the House next year. Democrats only need to flip a handful of seats for a majority.

Each of the two districts features an electoral rematch from 2022.

Both are represented by GOP congressman but the districts have a higher proportion of registered Democratic voters compared to Republican voters.

Voters in both districts, had current legislative maps been in place from 2021 redistricting, would have picked Biden over Trump in 2020 by more than 10 percentage points. Each is a Latino-majority voting district with a large voting bloc of young people.

However these districts tend to see low turnout, which results in older, white, more conservative voters having a disproportionate say.

In the 13th, freshman Rep. John Duarte, R-Modesto, again faces former Assemblyman Adam Gray, a Merced Democrat. In 2022, Duarte beat Gray in one of the nation’s closest races by fewer than 600 votes.

In the 22nd, Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, is again challenged by former Assemblyman Rudy Salas, a Bakersfield Democrat. In 2022, Salas came within 3 percentage points of Valadao.

Neither campaign spokespeople for Gray or Salas responded to requests for comment about Biden’s campaign on Monday or Tuesday.

Other Central Valley races are also viewed as competitive by nonpartisan forecasters, though less so than the 13th and 22nd.

Covey said candidates in tough House races are in a “precarious position” not wanting to alienate parts of their base.

One benefit she mentioned is that Biden most likely won’t campaign in the 13th or 22nd, making him easy to avoid on the trail. Another could be Democratic donors redirecting funds toward competitive House races if they think the presidential contest isn’t worth spending on.

It’s not worth these Democratic candidates speaking out, Covey said, especially if their voices carry little weight in whether Biden stays or goes like a senior party member: “For a challenger candidate, they’re not going to have any real influence over that.”

In California’s 3rd Congressional District, which dips slightly into the Central Valley but mainly runs on the Sierra Nevada to the Nevada border, Democratic challenger Jessica Morse didn’t mention Biden in a statement sent to The Bee on Tuesday. But she stressed the need to defeat Trump. Nonpartisan analysts say the 3rd, held by Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Roseville, is likely to pick a Republican in 2024, but not definitely.

“We need to stop Donald Trump at every level,” Morse said. “Regardless of what happens at the top of the ticket, Congress must be the firebreak against the existential threat of MAGA extremism, and what I can do is unseat Kevin Kiley, one of Trump’s foot soldiers right here in Roseville.”

Senior California Democrats have backed Biden

Senior California Democrats in Congress have affirmed their support for Biden since his poor debate performance on June 27. Biden has dug in, saying he won’t drop out of the race as some Democrats have questioned his ability to effectively campaign.

“The leaders matter, not the rank and file,” Darrell West, a political analyst at nonpartisan research organization Brookings Institution, told The Bee on Tuesday. “The people who have called for him to leave are strong enough politically.”

“Many people in the caucus, senior, influential people, are saying he’s going to be the nominee,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, told The Bee on Tuesday.

California Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, both Democrats, have defended Biden since the debate.

“The bottom line is: Joe Biden is the leader of our party,” Padilla told MSNBC on Sunday. “We’re committed to ensuring that he has a second term, and equally important that Donald Trump does not win in November. The stakes are simply too high.”

Neither Trump nor Biden are technically locked in as their party’s nominees. They must wait for the Republican and Democratic national conventions to officially be selected.

The priority is keeping Trump out of the White House, Democrats said.

“Unless something changes, (Biden is) the nominee,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove. “I don’t think we’re helping defeat Trump by all the infighting.”

“I think he’s probably a better candidate when he’s got the chip on his shoulder,” Bera told The Bee on Tuesday, adding, “We’ve all got to unite as a party as well because this was always going to be really tough race.”

Doubts remain on Biden’s ability to defeat Trump in November.

Senate candidate and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Vice President Kamala Harris would be “an extraordinary president” and that Biden must “win overwhelmingly or he has to pass the torch to someone who can.”

David Lightman of the McClatchy Washington Bureau contributed to this story.

This story has been updated to include comments made after the original story published.