“When you take a look at what����ap happening right now in America, it����ap pretty dismal,” said James, a Democrat, in an interview. “And we are lacking leadership in America.”

James’ effort to beat Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in the Denver-based 1st Congressional District comes nearly three years after James was elected to CU’s governing board. An early marijuana entrepreneur who opened a cannabis shop in northwest Denver, she sought to frame her primary challenge within larger debates consuming the Democratic Party.

Namely: how to respond to the Trump administration and growing frustration among Democratic voters with the party’s leadership.

“When I look at what����ap happening here in Denver, Denver is a very, very different city. The 1st Congressional District is a different place than it was 30 years ago, even 10 years ago,” she said. That’s a reference to 1996, when DeGette, now 68, was first elected.

James’ congressional campaign is part of seeking to unseat established Democratic politicians in the 2026 midterms. Indeed, James’ comment about the length of DeGette’s tenure echoes what U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s primary opponent said earlier this year: “We are living in a totally different America than the one (Pelosi) knew when she entered politics 45 years ago.”

Alongside James, four other Democrats have filed to challenge DeGette in next year’s primary. They include in their late-20s — Melat Kiros and Carter Hanson — who’ve also noted DeGette’s lengthy tenure in Congress, according to Westword.

James, a 61-year-old Navy veteran who’s also worked as a political strategist, is the only one currently serving in elected office.

James said that if she wins, she will support a “Medicare For All” program, which would ensure health care coverage for all Americans, and an income-based version of to provide free tuition to public four-year universities. She said she will also back policies to boost homeownership in Denver, .

She said she supports immigration reform that would provide a path to citizenship for people brought to the United States as children, along with farmworkers and That plan would include more border security — on immigration policy.

She said her priorities include trying to repair the Democratic Party’s brand, which has for a path forward after President Donald Trump’s election last year. She cast that effort as centered around fighting broadly against Trump policies, including the administration’s mass-deportation agenda.

James, who represents the 1st Congressional District’s residents on CU’s governing board, was the first black woman elected to the panel in decades.

This year, she has faced controversy in that position. She was censured by the board earlier this summer after she was accused of trying to strip funding for a CU campaign that sought to provide information about the risks of high-potency marijuana. One member of the board accused her of putting her own interests as a marijuana business owner over the interests of the university.

James has said the campaign’s materials were racist — they included images of a Black family suffering from a mother’s marijuana use — and she said the censure was about “censorship and retaliation.”

The new wave of challenges against incumbent Democrats has only just lapped the shores of Colorado’s blue strongholds, where two longtime Democratic officials are vying to succeed Gov. Jared Polis next year and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, who is up for reelection, boasts and faces only newcomer primary challengers so far.

Still, DeGette has parried aggressive primary challenges before in the 1st District, which is now largely contiguous with Denver city boundaries and also includes Glendale and Holly Hills.

Her 2018 Democratic opponent initially raised more money than the congresswoman, sparking early murmurings that DeGette may be vulnerable. But she cruised to a in the primary and has not drawn a substantive Democratic opponent since.

She enters this campaign season with more than $320,000 in the bank, .

Last summer, DeGette defended then-President Joe Biden’s brief determination to stay in the presidential race. In a virtual town hall earlier this summer, she sharply criticized Trump’s policies and the federal tax bill that later blew a hole in Colorado’s budget. She also said she supported ending U.S. funding of offensive weapons for Israel.

In a statement Wednesday, DeGette spokeswoman Jennie Peek-Dunstone said the congresswoman had fought to “stop the harmful cuts to Medicaid, defend reproductive freedom, lower the cost of medicine, and boost breakthrough lifesaving medical research.”

“In these uncertain times when extreme MAGA Republicans control the White House and Congress, we need Congresswoman DeGette’s proven leadership to hold the Trump administration accountable and continue delivering for Denverites,” Peek-Dunstone said.

But James expressed confidence, saying she had the name recognition and fundraising abilities to beat DeGette.

“This is the first time in Diana’s 30-year career that she’s going to be facing a challenger that can bring all of that to the forefront,” she said.

Re: “Ideas for repealing unnecessary laws,” Jan. 18 letter to the editor

If CDOT and Denver could synchronize the traffic lights in and around Denver, we probably wouldn’t need emissions testing, and the air would be cleaner.

It is very frustrating to drive down a major thoroughfare such as Quebec Street and have to stop at nearly every — if not every — light, including those at the intersections of lightly traveled cross streets. Picture 20 or so vehicles stopping and restarting to allow one (sometimes not even one) car to cross.

When I call to complain, I eventually get an email telling me the issue has been looked into and the lights are working properly! How can that be, when the timing varies from one instance to the next, even at the same time of day?

I know it is a first-world issue, but it affects our air and health, both physical and mental.

Joe Wolf, Denver

Stand up for birthright citizenship

To the Republican and Democratic members of Congress:

Remember the day you took the oath of office to stand up for the people? Your responsibility is to support the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees that everyone born on American soil is a U.S. citizen.

In every American family, there was an immigrant who came to America to build a decent life for their family and to be proud of the contributions they made to society. You are part of that legacy. Don’t throw mud on the hard work they did to ensure you are an American. These immigrants were the foundation of this country; they poured their heart into the nation to do great things.

The oath did not say loyalty to the president; you serve the people. Please examine your position and soul and stand up for every boy and girl born in America.

You have to know in your heart that President Donald Trump’s executive order to strip away that birthright is wrong and inhumane. Please do the right thing and challenge this action.

Jackie Mead, Westminster

Trump’s pardons can’t be justified

Can anyone think that President Donald Trump’s pardons for the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters are justified? If so, it’s a warped way of thinking. These formerly convicted criminals attacked and did physical harm to many of the Capitol police and did untold damage to the U.S. Capitol. They threatened to kill Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, who thankfully, were safely hidden away.

For anyone who wants to equate these pardons with former President Joe Biden’s pardons, it is just plain ridiculous.  Does Hunter Biden deserve to go to prison? Probably. But he didn’t assault anyone and only did harm to himself in reality. Contrast his actions with the Jan. 6 so-called “hostages” or “patriots,” and it’s not even close. These hoodlums threatened to overturn our system of government, and it was all because they falsely believed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. So they were brainwashed into believing the Big Lie and then they went on a rampage. How can anyone excuse that idiocy? And now we have Trump, the convicted felon, pardoning all of these criminals. That’s rich.

Jim Ciha, Grand Junction

Blend in new Loretto Heights construction

Re: “New community center wants neighbors to visit,” Jan. 22 news story

Loretto Heights has always been a beautiful campus; the red brick buildings are reminiscent of the Ivy League campuses. The new community center proposal is in stark contrast to those buildings and doesn’t blend into the campus at all. I wish the developers would take a look at DU and other historic campuses and see how the buildings complement each other; they look like a community of buildings. Please rethink this building for the sake of community.

Ellen Derrick, Denver

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Pelosi, 84, “is well on the mend,” said Ian Krager, a spokesman for the California Democrat, in a statement.

Pelosi thanked the staff at and the hospital in Luxembourg, where she was also treated, for “their excellent care and kindness.”

She was in Europe with a bipartisan congressional delegation to mark the of the Battle of the Bulge in .

Pelosi tripped and fell while at an event and fractured her hip, according to people familiar with her injury who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Among those on the trip was Rep. , R-Texas, who posted on social media Friday that he was “praying for a speedy recovery,” for Pelosi. The two lawmakers were captured holding hands in a group photo that day at the U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg.

Pelosi was first elected in 1987. She served as speaker twice, from her leadership post two years ago but remained in Congress and was reelected to represent her San Francisco district in November.

___

Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker has been hospitalized after she “sustained an injury” during an official engagement in Luxembourg, according to a spokesman.

Pelosi, 84, was in Europe with a bipartisan congressional delegation to mark the in . Her spokesman, Ian Krager, said in a statement that she is “currently receiving excellent treatment from doctors and medical professionals” and is unable to attend the remainder of events on her trip.

He did not describe the nature of her injury or give any additional details, but a person familiar with the incident said that Pelosi tripped and fell while at an event with the other members of Congress. Another person familiar with the situation said she injured her hip. The people requested anonymity to discuss the fall because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly.

Krager said that Pelosi “looks forward to returning home to the U.S. soon.”

Among the members on the trip was Rep. , R-Texas, who posted on social media that he was “praying for a speedy recovery,” for Pelosi. The two lawmakers were captured holding hands in a group photo Friday at the U.S. Embassy in Luxembourg.

“I’m disappointed Speaker Emerita Pelosi won’t be able to join the rest of our delegation’s events this weekend as I know how much she looked forward to honoring our veterans,” McCaul wrote on X. “But she is strong, and I am confident she will be back on her feet in no time.”

The former leader’s fall comes two years after her husband Paul was attacked by a man with a hammer at their San Francisco home. The man, who was sentenced in October to 30 years in federal prison, broke into their home looking for Pelosi.

Pelosi, who was first elected in 1987 and served as speaker twice, from her leadership post two years ago but remained in Congress and was re-elected to represent her San Francisco district in November.

She has remained active in the two years since she left the top job, working with Democrats in private and in public and attending official events. Last summer, she was instrumental in her party’s behind the scenes push to urge President to leave the presidential ticket.

She attended the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington last weekend and was on the Senate floor Monday to attend the of her former Democratic House colleagues, of California and of New Jersey.

Earlier this week, Senate Republican Leader , 82, , spraining his wrist and cutting his face. McConnell, who is stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year, on Thursday after experiencing some stiffness in his leg from the fall, his office said.

“He has not said whether he disagrees with her offensive posts or spoken out against antisemitism,” Caraveo, a Democrat, said during a brief online news conference. “Let’s be clear: Hate and antisemitism have no place in our society. We must stand up to all forms of intolerance, wherever and whenever we see it.”

On Tuesday, Evans, a state representative, directly condemned the comments from his former political director, Jessica Spindle, in an email to The Denver Post.

“Gabe fully rejects the offensive material contained in those social media posts,” campaign spokesman Alan Philp wrote. “That’s why he acted immediately upon learning of them.”

The posts by Spindle were laid out in a story last week by the . The online outlet showed screenshots of Spindle’s posts on social media sites, including Facebook, that were antisemitic, along with one in which she wrote “please shoot her” — in reference to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat.

In 2019, Spindle praised a mashup flag combining the United States flag, the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and the Confederate flag. She also posted favorably about the QAnon movement, a sprawling conspiracy theory that claims Donald Trump is fighting a secret, satanic cult of world leaders and celebrities intent on world domination.

Spindle’s posts largely date back to 2019 through 2021, before the Times Recorder said that she first worked with Evans, helping him win election to the state House in 2022. But its story said Spindle posted an antisemitic image as recently as June.

Spindle’s account on Facebook and her account on the social platform X appears to .

Evans’ campaign said Spindle was fired last week “after a number of inappropriate comments she made on social media were brought to our attention.”

Philp didn’t respond to a question about how Spindle had been vetted for the campaign’s political director position or how Evans could have been unaware of her postings on social media. Spindle, who serves on the , based in Fort Lupton, did not return an email request for comment.

Illinois Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider, who is Jewish, joined Caraveo on Tuesday’s call. He called Evans “extreme” and accused him of “not standing with the Jewish people” against hate.

Evans’ campaign attempted to turn the tables on Caraveo, a freshman representative, by criticizing her no vote last November on a bill that would have provided $14.3 billion to Israel in its fight against Hamas. At the time of her vote, Caraveo said she opposed the bill because Republicans designed it to be funded by stripping money from the Internal Revenue Service. The entire Colorado Democratic congressional delegation voted against the bill.

The Evans campaign also said Caraveo wasn’t vocal enough in criticizing college protests against Israel this past spring, which at times veered into what some Colorado Jewish students perceived as displays of antisemitism.

The 8th Congressional District is considered one of the closest House races in the country in November’s election and stands as Colorado’s most evenly divided district by voter affiliation. The district covers northern Denver suburbs in Adams County and stretches north to Greeley and into a small slice of Larimer County.

It was April 2022, weeks after Russia had invaded Ukraine and touched off an international crisis, and two Republican lawmakers had rushed to be the first to travel to the besieged country. Now Pelosi wanted to quickly arrange her own visit — and she wanted Crow, whose national security background distinguished him in his party, to come with her.

A late-night phone call from Pelosi to Crow would have been improbable when he first came to Congress in 2019. Hailing from a competitive district in Colorado, he had run as a centrist and avowed detractor of the liberal Pelosi, and after he knocked off a Republican incumbent he pledged that he would not vote for her for speaker.

But since then, his credentials — including three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and a Bronze Star, as well as a law degree and a background in private-sector investigations — have made Crow a go-to lawmaker for Democratic leaders on difficult national security issues.

Pelosi tapped him in 2019 to manage the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. He was part of the whip operation to rally support for legislation to send tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine. He was selected as the top Democrat on a subcommittee investigating the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

And last month, he was named the senior Democrat on a bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

“Political violence is intolerable, and we have to set a tone that it����ap not appropriate for our nation,” Crow said of the assignment.

In his new role, Crow will work with Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., the chair of the task force, to get to the bottom of the law enforcement failures that preceded the shooting last month.

The two are racing to hire staff members and lawyers who can carry out the inquiry. They have a Dec. 13 deadline to finish the investigation and write a bipartisan report.

“It����ap going to be a hell of a quick burn,” Crow said.

Creating the committee was a bit of an internal struggle. Many Republicans clamored for seats, eager to demonstrate their loyalty to Trump, and there is much anger on the right from lawmakers who were not selected.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida recently claimed that Speaker Mike Johnson had passed over two former military snipers — Reps. Eli Crane of Arizona and Cory Mills of Florida — for “disgustingly political” reasons related to their opposition to government spending. (The two were also among the Republicans who embraced conspiracy theories about the assassination attempt, baselessly suggesting that Trump’s political opponents had sought to kill him.)

Democrats were equally concerned about Republicans who were named to the task force, including Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, who has also hinted that the left had a hand in the Trump shooting and has long trafficked in conspiracy theories about the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

But Crow said he had confidence that Democrats and Republicans could come together to run a serious investigation. He pointed to the participation of several conservatives with military backgrounds.

“These are all serious people,” he said in an interview. “They’re conservative, of course, but I’ve worked a lot with them. They’re veterans, and they’re going to want this to be successful.”

On the Democratic side, there are two lawmakers who have been impeachment managers prosecuting Trump: Crow and Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania. Now they are investigating how the Secret Service might have failed the man they once tried to remove from office.

Crow’s relationship with his party’s leaders started off rocky. After vowing not to vote for Pelosi, he encountered an unusually aggressive lobbying effort by fellow Democrats — and even his neighbors — to persuade him to change his mind.

Crow refused, but he was upfront with Pelosi and kept her in the loop about what he was doing in Congress. If he had an appearance in the news media and mentioned her, he had his staff send it to her.

Then at the end of 2019, Pelosi surprised Crow by summoning him to her office and asking him to be a manager in Trump’s impeachment trial. The president was charged with abuse of power for his efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate and discredit his Democratic political rival, Joe Biden, and for obstructing a congressional investigation into his actions.

During the Senate trial, Crow became close with another member of the impeachment team: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., now the minority leader. While Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., spoke the most during the proceedings, Jeffries and Crow were the next most featured.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

On the walls of his office, Crow has framed the impeachment articles above a photograph of the managers.

After war broke out in Ukraine, Crow angled to take a group of lawmakers into the country, but the Defense Department pulled its support for the trip.

From the martini bar in Bucharest, Crow texted Pelosi a news article about two Republican lawmakers who had just managed to make it in for a visit. That prompted her to snap into action and organize her own trip, including Crow among the senior lawmakers accompanying her.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Jeffries has also frequently turned to Crow. The Democratic leader temporarily reassigned Crow from the Armed Services Committee to a foreign affairs subcommittee to be the top Democrat on a panel created by Republicans to investigate the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Jeffries also asked Crow to be part of the whip operation to persuade Republicans and Democrats to back a huge aid package for Ukraine.

And when top Democrats were looking for someone to privately convey to Biden the seriousness of the party’s concerns about the national security implications of his age, that task, too, fell to Crow. In a private video call last month with members of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, Crow told the president that “many voters are losing confidence you can do this in a second term.” He asked what major change Biden could make to his campaign to turn things around.

The question elicited an angry response from Biden but had its intended effect, making clear that House Democrats felt they needed a new candidate to take on Trump after the president����ap debate performance in June.

That evening, an assailant fired at Trump.

Days after that, Jeffries called Crow and quickly got to the point: Hey, I need you again. This time, it was to serve on the task force investigating the assassination attempt.

Crow has been getting to know Kelly as the two begin their work. He said he was promising to keep politics out of the effort and avoid hearings filled with grandstanding and name-calling, a break with recent proceedings in the polarized House.

“We want this to be less theatrical,” Crow said.

This article originally appeared in .

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an , as top Democrats rallied to her in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his bid for reelection.

The quick coalescing behind Harris marked an attempt by the party to put weeks of internecine drama over Biden’s political future behind them and to unify behind the task of defeating Trump with just over 100 days until Election Day. Prominent Democratic elected officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly in the day after Biden’s exit from the race and her campaign set a new 24-hour record for presidential donations on Monday.

Several state delegations met late Monday to confirm their support for Harris, including Texas and her home state of California. By Monday night, Harris had the support of well more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot, according to the AP tally. No other candidate was named by a delegate contacted by the AP.

California state Democratic Chairman Rusty Hicks said 75% to 80% of the state’s delegation were on a call Tuesday and they unanimously supported Harris.

“I’ve not heard anyone mentioning or calling for any other candidate,” Hicks said. “Tonight’s vote was a momentous one.”

Still, the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention in August or if Democrats go through with a ahead of that gathering in Chicago.

Harris, in a statement, responded to the AP tally, saying she is “grateful to President Biden and everyone in the Democratic Party who has already put their faith in me, and I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people.”

Worries over Biden’s fitness for office were replaced by fresh signs of unity after a seismic shift to the presidential contest that upended both major political parties’ carefully honed plans for the 2024 race.

Speaking to campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris acknowledged the “rollercoaster” of the last several weeks, but expressed confidence in her new campaign team.

“It is my intention to go out and earn this nomination and to win,” she said. She promised to “unite our Democratic Party, to unite our nation, and to win this election.”

She quickly leaned into the themes that will be prominent in her campaign against Trump over the coming 100 days, contrasting her time as a prosecutor with Trump’s felony convictions — “I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said — and casting herself as a defender of economic opportunity and abortion access.

“Our fight for the future is also a fight for freedoms,” she said. “The baton is in our hands.”

The president called into the meeting from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he is recovering from COVID-19, to lend his support to Harris. He planned to talk about his decision to step aside in an address to the nation later this week.

“The name has changed at the top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all,” Biden said in his first public remarks since announcing his decision to step aside, promising he was “not going anywhere” and plans to campaign on Harris’ behalf.

Biden said of his decision, “It was the right thing to do.”

As he handed off the mantle of leadership to Harris, Biden added: “I’m watching you kid. I love you.”

Harris was headed to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Tuesday as her campaign for the White House kicks into high gear. The event in Milwaukee will be her first full-fledged campaign event since announcing her candidacy.

interviews with individual delegates, public statements from state parties, many of which have announced that their delegations are supporting Harris en masse, and public statements and endorsements from individual delegates.

Locking up the nomination was only the first item on the staggering political to-do list for Harris after learning of Biden’s plans to leave the race Sunday morning on a call with the president. She must also pick a running mate and pivot a massive political operation that had been built to reelect Biden to boost her candidacy instead.

On Sunday afternoon, Biden’s campaign formally changed its name to Harris for President, reflecting that she is inheriting his political operation of more than 1,000 staffers and war chest that stood at nearly $96 million at the end of June. She added $81 million to that total in the first 24 hours after Biden’s endorsement, her campaign said — a presidential fundraising record — with contributions from more than 888,000 donors.

The campaign also saw a surge of interest after Harris took over, with more than 28,000 new volunteers registered since the announcement — a rate more than 100 times an average day from the previous Biden reelection campaign, underscoring the enthusiasm behind Harris.

Big-name Harris endorsements Monday, including from Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, left a vanishing list of potential rivals.

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who had been one of the notable holdouts, initially encouraging a primary to strengthen the eventual nominee, said she was lending her “enthusiastic support” to Harris’ effort to lead the party.

Harris, if elected, would be the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to be president.

is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had announced before Biden dropped out that it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin. The convention’s rules committee is scheduled to meet this week to finalize its nomination process with a virtual vote as soon as Aug. 1, the party announced on Monday, with the process completed by Aug. 7.

“We can and will be both fast and fair as we execute this nomination,” Jaime Harrison, the Democratic National Committee’s chair, said on a conference call with reporters.

The party said the virtual roll call would feature multiple rounds of voting on nominees if multiple candidates meet the qualification threshold. To qualify, candidates must have the electronic signatures of 300 convention delegates.

—

AP writers Seung Min Kim and Will Weissert in Washington and Chris Megerian in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at .

WASHINGTON — Critical days ahead, is facing the stark reality that many Democrats at the highest levels want him to consider how stepping aside from the 2024 election to make way for a new nominee atop the ticket could be the party’s best chance of preventing widespread losses in November.

Isolated as at his beach house in Delaware, Biden’s already small circle of confidants before his debate fumbling has downsized further. The president, who has insisted he can beat Republican , is with family and relying on a few longtime aides as he weighs whether to bow to the mounting pressure to drop out.

The Biden For President campaign is calling an all-staff meeting Friday. At the same time, the ’s rulemaking arm expects to meet Friday, pressing ahead with plans for a virtual roll call before Aug. 7 to nominate the presidential pick, ahead of the party’s convention later in the month in Chicago.

“President Biden deserves the respect to have important family conversations with members of the caucus and colleagues in the House and Senate and Democratic leadership and not be battling leaks and press statements,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Biden’s closest friend in Congress and his campaign co-chair, told The Associated Press.

It����ap a pivotal few days for the president and his party: has wrapped up an enthusiastic in Milwaukee. And Democrats, racing time, are considering the extraordinary possibility of Biden stepping aside for a new presidential nominee before their own convention.

Amid the turmoil, a majority of Democrats think Vice President would make a good president herself.

A found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Harris would do a good job in the top slot. About 2 in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

Democrats at the highest levels have been making a critical push for Biden to rethink his election bid, with former President Barack Obama expressing concerns to allies and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi privately telling Biden the party could lose the ability to seize control of the House if he doesn’t step away from the 2024 race.

Late Thursday, Montana Sen. Jon Tester became the second Democrat in the chamber — and now among nearly two dozen in Congress — calling on him to bow out, saying, “Biden should not seek reelection to another term.”

Campaign officials said Biden was even more committed to staying in the race even as the calls for him to go mounted. And senior West Wing aides have had no internal discussions or conversations with the president about Biden dropping out.

But there is also time to reconsider. Biden has been told the campaign is having trouble raising money, and key Democrats see an opportunity as he is away from the campaign for a few days to encourage his exit. Among his Cabinet, some are resigned to the likelihood of him losing in November.

The reporting in this story is based in part on information from almost a dozen people who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive private deliberations. The Washington Post first reported on Obama’s involvement.

Biden, 81, tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling in Las Vegas earlier this week and is experiencing “mild symptoms” including “general malaise” from the infection, the White House said.

The president himself, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive, dismissed the idea it was too late for him to recover politically, telling Univision’s Luis Sandoval that many people don’t focus on the November election until September.

“All the talk about who’s leading and where and how, is kind of, you know — everything so far between Trump and me has been basically even,” he said in an excerpt of the interview released Thursday.

But in Congress, Democratic lawmakers have begun having private conversations about lining up behind Harris as an alternative. One lawmaker said Biden’s own advisers are unable to reach a unanimous recommendation about what he should do. More in Congress are considering joining the others who have called for Biden to drop out. Some prefer an open process for choosing a new presidential nominee.

“It����ap clear the issue won’t go away,” said Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, the other Senate Democrat who has publicly said Biden should exit the race. Welch said the current state of party angst — with lawmakers panicking and donors revolting — was “not sustainable.”

However, influential Democrats including Senate Majority Leader and House Democratic Leader are sending signals of strong concern.

To be sure, many want Biden to stay in the race. But among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to . That sharply undercuts Biden’s post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him.

___

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, Ellen Knickmeyer in Aspen, Colorado, Steve Peoples in Milwaukee, and Josh Boak, Will Weissert, Mary Clare Jalonick, Seung Min Kim and Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, in a letter to congressional Democrats, stood firm against calls for him to drop his candidacy and called for an “end” to the intraparty drama that has torn apart Democrats since his .

Biden’s efforts to shore up a deeply anxious Democratic Party came Monday as lawmakers are returning to Washington and confronting a choice: decide whether to work to revive his campaign or edge out the party leader, a make-or-break time for his reelection and their own .

Biden wrote in the two-page letter that “the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it����ap time for it to end.” He stressed that the party has “one job,” which is to defeat presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November.

“We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election,” Biden said in the letter, distributed by his reelection campaign. “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It����ap time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.”

Anxiety is running high as top-ranking Democratic lawmakers are joining calls for Biden to step aside despite his defiance. At the same time, some of the president����ap most staunch supporters are redoubling the fight for Biden’s presidency, insisting there’s no one better to beat Trump in what many see as among the most important elections of a lifetime.

As lawmakers weigh whether Biden should , there appear to be no easy answers.

It����ap a tenuous and highly volatile juncture for the president����ap party. Democrats who have worked alongside Biden for years — if not decades — and cherished his life’s work on policy priorities are now entertaining uncomfortable questions about his political future. And it����ap unfolding as Biden hosts world leaders for this week in Washington.

Time is not on their side, almost a month from the Democratic National Convention and just a week before Republicans gather in Milwaukee to as their presidential pick. Many Democrats are arguing the attention needs to be focused instead on the former president����ap felony conviction in the hush money case and pending in his effort to .

It����ap what Biden himself might call an inflection point. As he defiantly says he will only step aside if the Lord almighty comes and tells him to, Democrats in the House and Senate are deciding how hard they want to fight the president to change course, or if they want to change course at all.

In an effort to “get on the same page,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is convening lawmakers for private meetings before he shows his own preference, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. He plans to gather Democrats on Monday whose bids for reelection are most vulnerable.

But a private call Sunday of some 15 top House committee members exposed the deepening divide as at least four more Democrats — Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state and Rep. Mark Takano of California — privately said Biden should step aside.

Nadler, as the most senior ranking member on the call, was the first person to speak up and say that Biden should step aside, according to a person familiar with the call who was granted anonymity to discuss it. He did so aware of his seniority and that it would allow others to join him.

Many others on the call raised concerns about Biden’s capability and chance of winning reelection, even if they stopped short of saying Biden should step out of the race.

Still other members, including Rep. Maxine Waters of California and Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, both leaders in the Congressional Black Caucus, spoke forcefully in support of Biden, as did Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

And several lawmakers appeared frustrated that leadership was not providing direction or a path forward, according to people familiar with the call. One Democratic lawmaker said regardless of the decision, the situation has to “end now,” one of the people said.

Neal said afterward that the bottom line is Biden beat Trump in 2020 and “he’ll do it again in November.”

The upheaval also is testing a new generation of leaders, headed by Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Both New Yorkers have refrained from publicly directing lawmakers on a path forward as they balance diverse opinions in their ranks.

Behind the scenes is Speaker Emerita , who continues to field calls from lawmakers seeking advice about the situation, and is widely viewed as the one to watch for any ultimate decision on Biden’s future because of her proximity to the president and vote-counting skills in party politics.

Pelosi spoke up last week, saying Biden’s debate performance raised “legitimate” questions he needed to answer, but she has remained supportive of the president. And Biden called her last week when he reached out to other party leaders.

When Biden’s prime-time ABC interview on Friday appeared to do little to calm worried Democrats, and some said made the situation worse, Pelosi stepped forward to publicly praise Biden on social media as a “great President who continues to deliver for America’s kitchen table.” She added, “and we’re not done yet!”

Schumer has kept a lower profile throughout the ordeal but will convene Democratic senators Tuesday for their weekly lunch when senators are certain to air many views.

One Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, had intended to gather senators Monday to discuss Biden privately, but a person familiar with his thinking said those conversations will take place in Tuesday’s regular caucus luncheon with all Democratic senators.

Another Democrat, Sen. Alex Padilla of California, said it was “time to quit the hand-wringing and get back to door knocking.”

Padilla spoke with Biden over the weekend, and urged his campaign to “let Joe be Joe.”

“Given the debate, I think the campaign has no choice,” Padilla said Sunday, explaining that Biden needs to hold town halls and unscripted events to show voters “the Joe Biden I know, and that most people in American have come to grow and love.”

While some deep-pocketed donors may be showing discomfort, strategists working on House and Senate races said they posted record fundraising as donors view congressional Democrats as a “firewall” and last line of defense against Trump.

House Democrats have had some of their better fundraising days yet, including a $3 million haul last Friday night after the debate at an event with former President Barack Obama and Jeffries in New York City. That����ap on top of $1.3 million that rolled into the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the debate and its immediate aftermath.

Senate Democrats are also seeing a “surge” of support, according to a national Democrat with knowledge of Senate races.

As Democratic candidates campaign alongside Biden, the advice has been to focus on building their own brands and amplifying the way the work that����ap done in Congress affects their local districts.

__

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri, Kevin Freking, Seung Min Kim and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

Hunter Palm, who was arrested in Denver in May 2021, pleaded guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor, according to court records.

Other charges — including obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, entering and remaining in certain rooms in the Capitol, disorderly conduct in the Capitol, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol — were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Palm to 36 months of probation and ordered him to pay $500 in restitution and a $25 “special assessment.”

Videos that Palm turned over to federal investigators showed him yelling “stop the steal!” and entering the conference room in Pelosi’s office with a crowd of people who were shouting they were going to kill the House speaker, according to court records.

Palm admitted in an interview with investigators that he entered the Capitol on Jan. 6. He told them he was pushed into the building, but surveillance video reviewed by investigators showed that he walked into the Capitol freely, according to court documents.

Palm is one of more than a dozen Coloradans who have been prosecuted for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 as supporters of President Donald Trump disrupted Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

All told, in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, ranging from misdemeanor offenses like trespassing to felonies like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.

Roughly 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while another roughly 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury, according to an Associated Press database.

About 140 officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department were assaulted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, .

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.