Primary season is over and Biden is our nominee. Efforts to undermine him only serve to help Trump and MAGA, which we know will be disastrous for our country.”
Asked how the president appeared at the restaurant, Ramirez said he was “great, energetic, lively.”
But one ally admitted the COVID diagnosis was suboptimal: “The optics don’t look good.”
After the announcement that the president would no longer be speaking, his allies insisted he is still the better choice, pointing to Biden’s accomplishments.
Mayra Macías, the executive director of Building Back Together, one of the top outside groups promoting Biden’s agenda, said there was excitement in the crowd to hear him speak and cheers when the president’s name was mentioned.
She noted that he was modeling leadership by canceling his speech after his COVID diagnosis and pointed to his other events during the Las Vegas trip—from NAACP to CSN and the Univision interview—as evidence that he was successfully engaging with people of color who live in Nevada. She was impressed with the new executive order announced Wednesday, and that the administration has moved to begin implementing the president’s last executive order on immigration, announced in June, in August.
“It was intentional to announce [the executive order] today so he could talk about them at Unidos,” she said.
Interestingly, while Biden gave a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) gala for Hispanic heritage month last fall, he has often delegated events aimed at Latino voters to Harris. In 2022, she spoke to the NALEO gathering, to UnidosUS last year, and to the influential, majority-Latino Culinary Union in Las Vegas in the new year.
Biden allies also said they were heartened to see UnidosUS and leaders from other grassroots groups organize a press conference against the far-right anti-immigration focus at the Republican convention, which has been complete with “Mass Deportation Now” signs, Senator Ted Cruz’s declaration that “We are facing an invasion on our southern border,” and the Republican Party’s 2024 platform alleging a “migrant crime epidemic” that has led to American cities being “hollowed-out, dystopian nightmares thanks to Joe Biden and Democrats.”
The belief among the president’s supporters is that when presented with the stark choice between Trump and Biden, and when the stakes are made clear, Democratic voters will come home.
Hector Sanchez Barba, the head of Mi Familia Vota, one of the groups present at the press conference, said Trump is “enemy number one” for immigrants, Latinos, and for democracy. Republicans “have allowed the party to be kidnapped by MAGA, anti-immigrant extremism,” he added.
In contrast, he pointed to a 2020 Vegas town hall in which he pushed Biden to commit to seven Latino policy priorities, including multiple Latino cabinet members. “He has delivered on all of them,” Sanchez Barba said.
Asked if there is a window for Biden to step aside, a source close to the campaign told Vanity Fair that, from the all-hands meeting the campaign held after the debate two weeks ago to now, the message has consistently been the same: “He’s not going anywhere.”
But the senior state lawmaker said they, and many others, still want to see a leadership change at the top of the ticket, specifically because Harris—and her VP choice—could potentially energize the party ahead of November.
“I don’t see a path to Joe Biden remaining in the White House,” the source said. “Why wouldn’t we want the first South Asian and first African American woman vice president as the nominee and an astronaut as the VP pick?” they added, referring to Harris and Arizona senator Mark Kelly, a retired NASA pilot.
“When’s the last time you saw an astronaut lose a campaign?” the state lawmaker asked.