WASHINGTON — If Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, is known for anything, it is his singular devotion to President Joe Biden’s agenda, which he has helped steer through Congress, and loyalty to Biden himself, a former Senate colleague whom he admires and respects.
But Schumer is also passionate about his role as his party’s longtime chief Senate race strategist, a hands-on political geek who digs deep into the numbers of every Senate race and is determined to hold both his narrow majority and the White House in November.
Over the past two weeks, as Biden’s reelection campaign has been plunged into crisis following his disastrous debate performance, those two imperatives have come into direct conflict, posing a dilemma for Schumer as more and more Democrats — including many in his own ranks — question the president’s ability to continue as the Democratic nominee.
In public, the usually talkative Schumer has been determinedly tight-lipped, sticking to a mantra of “I’m with Joe,” even as some in his caucus call for Biden to step aside and others express real alarm that if he remains the nominee, he may lose and take the party’s Senate majority and its committee chairs with him.
In private, Schumer is revealing more, if only very carefully. In conversations with donors, colleagues and others who have talked to him, the majority leader has cautiously opened the door to the idea of replacing Biden if it proves to be the most politically advantageous outcome. Those who spoke of their conversations with Schumer did so on the condition of anonymity.
One person who talked with him in recent days came away with the impression that Schumer had concluded that the president must not be the nominee, and was weighing the best way to bring about that result while being mindful of Biden.
Another said Schumer was steeped in polling data trying to explore all options with the goal of giving Democrats the best chance to defeat Trump — and working to determine whether that would be by removing Biden or keeping him.
Officially, Schumer has rebutted those accounts and other media reports, including one by Axios on Wednesday that said he was open to displacing Biden. Responding in a statement on his behalf, the majority leader reiterated his backing for the president.
“As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,” he said in the statement.
Schumer, according to another person privy to his conversations with donors, said he encourages them to convey their concerns directly to the Biden campaign or the White House. He has provided the same advice to Democratic senators.
It is an unusual posture for Schumer, who is usually eager to talk at length about political strategy and Democratic priorities.
Despite the deep unease among Senate Democrats about Biden remaining as their party’s presidential candidate, Schumer has given little public indication of his views, sticking with his “I’m with Joe” line, which he repeated three times Tuesday when pressed by reporters at the Capitol about his views on whether Biden should stay or go.
His House counterpart, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the minority leader, has been more visible than Schumer, acknowledging Thursday that House Democrats were discussing among themselves their views of Biden’s future. “Our conversations have been candid, comprehensive, and clear,” Jeffries said. “And they’re ongoing.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former speaker who retains substantial influence in the party, has also been more outspoken than Schumer. She said on MSNBC on Wednesday that Biden needed to make a decision on his reelection even though the White House insists he has. Pelosi has also privately advised colleagues to hold their fire until after this week’s NATO summit in Washington, a position viewed as giving House Democrats more time to assess whether the president can recover.
But Schumer and his team are taking the approach that virtually anything he says about Biden will be parsed in the extreme and misinterpreted, furthering a divide among Senate Democrats on Biden’s standing and throwing more fuel on an already inflammatory situation.
His colleagues say privately that Schumer has been mainly in listening mode and has not tipped his hand in closed meetings with them on exactly what he thinks should happen.
One said that Schumer said little in Tuesday’s Democratic luncheon other than to urge senators to avoid leaking what was discussed — an admonition some of them quickly ignored. Attendees also said Schumer said little at a briefing Thursday with top White House and Biden campaign officials that was called to assuage fears about the Biden candidacy, but which many senators said did not resolve their concerns.
Senators say Schumer is acting as he often does, first hearing out his colleagues and then plotting a way forward. He is seen as much more receptive to hearing from his members than previous leaders.
Colleagues acknowledge that Schumer — a longtime Biden ally who worked extremely closely with the president to pass major legislation on the economy, infrastructure and manufacturing — is in a delicate spot given his loyalty to Biden as well as his push to hold the Senate and keep a Democrat in the White House.
“I think he is in a very challenging and evolving situation,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “He is maintaining the focus on what unifies us, which is to defeat Donald Trump as an existential threat to our democracy.”
Earlier in his political career, Schumer was known as a tireless seeker of media attention, inspiring the well-known line from former Republican leader Bob Dole that the most dangerous place in the capital was between Schumer and a television camera. But that was when Schumer had mainly himself and his ambition to promote.
Now he has grown camera-shy as he listens to grave concerns from colleagues, donors and party officials, some of whom have interpreted his relative silence as tacit agreement with their assessments that Biden has to go.
His fellow senators say Schumer is merely doing what he has to do.
“He is being constructive,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Biden’s chief ally in the Senate.