This story has been updated.
Gov. Ned Lamont spoke admiringly Friday of U.S. Rep. Jim Himes and how he called Thursday night for President Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, saying he and the Connecticut congressman were “very simpatico.”
Lamont chose, however, to remain with the Democrats like Nancy Pelosi who signal that Biden should reconsider his push for a rematch with Donald J. Trump yet decline to explicitly confront an 81-year-old president defiant in the face of such tactics.
“Maybe we try and influence the decision in different ways,” said Lamont, who spoke with Himes on Thursday and planned to dine with him Friday night. “But I think we come to the same conclusion.”
He did not object when told his comments placed him on the same page as Himes, trying to influence Biden to step down.
[RELATED: U.S. Rep. Jim Himes calls on Joe Biden to drop out]
“I’ll leave what I said where I said it,” Lamont said.
Lamont’s approach to the question of Biden’s candidacy is consistent with the personality of a governor who prefers consensus to conflict, shunning language that might smack of threat.
Lamont pointedly and repeatedly praised Himes, who called him and other key Democrats before making his call for Biden to release his delegates and leave the choice of a presidential nomination to the convention in Chicago next month.
In brief remarks after a public event in West Haven, the governor made clear his only difference with Himes on the president was one of style, not substance.
“I told him I’m probably not a press release, petition type of guy. But I understood totally what he did and how he did it,” Lamont said. “He wanted to wait till after NATO and after the press conference, then he made his point of view heard.”
Himes’ call went out as Biden completed his first press conference in eight months, a session that marked the end of a summit with leaders of NATO, the international alliance assailed by Trump and his America-first campaign.
Himes represents the 4th Congressional District of lower Fairfield County, a seat he won in 2008 by unseating Chris Shays, the last Republican to represent Connecticut in Congress.
While a purple district 16 years ago, it now rivals the 1st District of Greater Hartford as the safest seat in Connecticut for a Democrat, making his call less one of self-interest than those made from swing districts.
On Friday morning, Himes was greeted by TV news crews at two events in Stamford. While praising the command of foreign policy the president displayed Thursday, Himes said no performance can change Biden’s age and Americans’ deep concerns about his ability to win and serve a second term.
As the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Himes said he sees concerns from foreign leaders about an “authoritarian” White House under Trump, not fears of a frail Biden.
While some Democrats saw progress at Biden’s press conference, Himes argued the day-to-day activities of governing and campaigning should not be used as the only marker to determine if he is up for another four years.
Himes said he was trying to influence the president, not other Democrats. He has not heard from the White House since making his statement. The congressman said his concerns were “turbocharged” when there was virtually no outreach in the days after the debate, adding it “really shook my faith in the competence of the campaign itself.”
“The point I was trying to make was not an evaluation of the president’s mental faculties. I’m not qualified to do that. The point I was trying to make was actually we’re talking as Democrats and the American people are watching every sentence in a news conference parsed,” he said.
Himes’ call to drop out — and Lamont’s tacit support for it on Friday — have yet to create a domino effect among federal lawmakers and other party leaders in Connecticut.
The rest of the state’s congressional delegation has been silent or unchanged — for now. Himes said in an interview later on Friday that he had sent all of his colleagues a text that he was getting ready to make a statement and “didn’t want anyone blindsided.”
Like Lamont, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., heaped praise on Himes and said the two of them are typically in alignment. But the senator’s views are currently unchanged and he is still supporting Biden, despite his persistent concerns.
“I have enormous respect for his very thoughtful and strong views on issues and often we’re aligned. We’re virtually neighbors in Connecticut,” Blumenthal said in an interview on Friday afternoon.
“I’m still where I was yesterday,” he added. “Views are evolving. The challenges are immense.”
Blumenthal said he was “disappointed” in Senate Democrats’ meeting with Biden advisers ahead of the president’s highly anticipated press conference on Thursday. He said he needs to see more data and analytics that Biden has a path to victory in November. At the meeting, there were “virtually none.”
And while the senator commended Biden for a “really solid” press conference at the NATO summit, Blumenthal argued that the president needs to be “constant and consistent” in outreach to voters and unscripted moments.
More Democrats around the country have called on Biden to drop out since Himes’ statement. But the congressman urged others who share concerns to speak out sooner than later so the party can move past the uncertainty.
“This period must come to an end. The president will make a decision, and not only will I respect that decision either way, if his decision is to remain in the race, no one will work harder to reelect him than I will,” Himes said. “We can’t have another week and a half in which Donald Trump is at a rally promising us authoritarianism, and all of America is hanging on Joe Biden’s every word.”
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago are currently bound to the president unless he releases them. At his press conference Thursday, Biden appeared to suggest pledged delegates can “do whatever they want” when voting on the nominee but also downplayed it by adding that “it’s not going to happen.”
Some of those delegates who reside in Himes’ 4th Congressional District are still sticking with Biden and want the party to pivot the focus back to the GOP and Trump.
“He’s doing the job, so why would I not have confidence in his ability to do the job?” said Tina Duryea, who is a member of the Norwalk Democratic Town Committee and a delegate. “Biden is the nominee, and I hope that at the convention we all come together to support our nominee.”
Gemeem Davis, a delegate from Bridgeport who is vice president and co-director of Bridgeport Generation Now, said the party should focus on making the election a referendum on Trump and protecting communities of color who are worried about the former president getting a second term.
“We need to be doing everything we can to focus on winning,” Davis said. “The electeds in our party are doing a disservice to our chances of winning about making this about Joe Biden.”
Other DNC delegates, however, feel more conflicted about it and see Biden as “politically weakened.”
“What’s the best approach for defeating Donald Trump? That’s the issue. The good news is we have a deep bench on the Democratic side. I think that any number of scenarios … would work in achieving that goal,” said Ed Camacho, the former chair of the Norwalk Democratic Town Committee, adding he will support Biden’s decision.
Himes, a delegate like Lamont and other key officials, said he does not have preference for a candidate who could replace Biden.
“The reality is that the president has pledged delegates today. This changes if he decides not to run,” Himes said. “We shouldn’t be afraid of what we purport to defend, which is a democratic process, delegates coming together and deciding.”
Without question, it would be watched.
“For one week, the eyes of the world are on us,” he said. “The eyes of the world would be on us as we made a generational shift. I think that would be a spectacular week.”
