How Washington’s lawmakers, donors, and delegates could influence the Biden conversation

Democrats in Washington state have been reeling for the past two weeks, since the first presidential debate when President Joe Biden struggled to finish a sentence and get points across – or really challenge falsehoods and hyperbole from his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.

RELATED: 4 takeaways from the first presidential debate

Polling has moved about 2.5 points in Trump’s favor nationally. Biden was already trailing in swing states he needs to win, and the debate is not changing that trajectory.

Washington is not a swing state, but it’s become increasingly influential in the Democratic Party in recent years with its rich tech donors and senior members of Congress.

On Thursday, hours before Biden was set to address the nation at a press conference, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a freshman congresswoman from a swing district in Southwest Washington, essentially called for him not to run.

“Like most people I represent in Southwest Washington, I doubt the President’s judgement about his health, his fitness to do the job, and whether he is the one making important decisions about our country, rather than unelected advisors,” she said in a statement. “The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first.”

Sen. Patty Murray said he should “seriously consider” how to secure his legacy, and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith has called for him to drop out. Others are toeing the line, like U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

RELATED: Biden should step down now, says Seattle Dem Rep. Adam Smith in blunt statement

“Are you fully behind the president?” a reporter asked her this week in a video posted by a CBS producer in D.C.

“I’m fully behind him as our nominee until he’s not our nominee,” she said as she got into a car. “I have a close relationship with him. We’ve done a lot of great things together. There are serious concerns that have been raised and – I’m looking forward to our conversation with him.”

Here in Washington, state Sen. Mark Mullet said he was the first member of the state legislature to endorse Biden in 2019 because he saw Biden as the best shot to beat Trump.

“It's all about how do you beat Donald Trump?” Mullet said at a campaign event Tuesday; he’s running for governor. “Joe Biden right now is not in a position to beat Donald Trump. I think Vice President Harris can beat Donald Trump, but the clock is ticking here. Like, we have to figure this out sooner rather than later, and I think it's time for the party to coalesce around Vice President Harris.”

He’s hoping it happens soon – like this weekend.

The Democratic frontrunner for governor, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Washington State Democratic Party stood by Biden in a statement.

It’s unlikely Biden is listening to legislators in a state he’ll very likely win, but he may be listening to donors.

RELATED: Biden is holding a rare solo news conference to try to show he’s up for this campaign

The Puyallup Tribe donated $300,000 to the Biden Victory Fund last year, but a spokesperson declined to share any statements regarding the Tribe’s current position on the president’s reelection bid. Other major donors have also been silent, including Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Microsoft's president Brad Smith, who turned down a KUOW request for an interview.

Others are doubling down. The founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, is a huge national political player living in Washington state who visited Biden before Christmas, and wrote a check for nearly a million dollars. KUOW spoke to his chief political advisor and Democratic insider Dmitri Mehlhorn.

“[Hoffman] has spent a lot of time, as have I since the debate performance, just reviewing all of our priors and making sure that we thought this through properly and checking all the evidence,” Mehlhorn said. “If you think about the people who are freaking out right now, pretty much all of them say they would still vote for Biden over Trump.”

He said sticking with Biden is still less risky than opening up the Democratic National Convention in August.

“If all 2,000 delegates were released, the 14 million votes [for Biden] were thrown out,” Mehlhorn said, “those 2,000 delegates, with Biden gone, get to go to war with each other, with the pro-Kamala and anti-Kamala factions’ knives out. And during that brutal war, huge portions of people will be alienated.”

Around a hundred of those delegates will come from Washington state. Solona Sisco is a delegate from Seattle pledged to Biden-Harris, but she hasn’t been a personal fan of Biden for some time – she’s been involved in a movement within the party to push Biden to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

RELATED: WA Democratic Party will send ceasefire letters to Biden, party leadership

Sisco said she hopes the president steps down and there’s an open convention – where they consider other candidates, like Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer or Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

“I just find it a little boring – a little frustrating – being put into a role of ceremony,” Sisco said. “I'd like to be able to make my voice heard in a meaningful way. I want to vote in meaningful ways.”

CORRECTION: 7/11/24, 7:36 p.m. -- An earlier version of this story misidentified Brad Smith's role at Microsoft. He is the company's president.