President Joe Biden could decide within days whether to remain a candidate for reelection, said Hawaii's governor, who took part in recent meetings with Biden and other Democratic governors and whose family has known the president for years.
If Biden decides not to run, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Saturday that he believes the president would nominate Biden to be his vice president. Kamala Harris I'll replace him on the ticket.
“The president is going to continue in this race unless he feels he can't win or he feels he's hearing from his aides that he shouldn't run,” Greene said. “If he feels he's not the right person for the job, really not the right person for the job, he's going to step down.”
“We'll probably know within the next few days how the president feels about this,” he said.
Biden has repeatedly said he will remain in the race against his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. But questions about his mental health have been swirling since his disastrous debate defeat last month. While some Democrats have urged Biden to drop out of the race, the president has pointed to the support of other elected officials in his party, particularly state governors.
Green, who was a doctor on Hawaii Island before being elected governor, said everyone has parents or grandparents who sometimes don't get along so well or don't express themselves clearly, but they can't be discarded because of their experience, wisdom or role in the family, he added.
“That's why I support the president until he says otherwise,” Greene said.
Greene said the multi-day deadline for a decision anticipates pressure that could come on Biden once lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week.
“I really, honestly think that's a decision that has to be made by him, and it shouldn't be made by another governor. It shouldn't be made by anyone other than him and the advisors closest to his heart,” Green said.
Greene was quick to point out that Trump is just three years younger than Biden and that both will face tough challenges down the road, but she argued that temperament matters more than age.
“For God's sake, these two need to have the nuclear codes,” Greene said. “We don't need someone tweeting in the middle of the night ranting at other countries. That's not OK. That's not the issue with President Biden.”
Greene said that if Biden were to withdraw from the campaign trail, the president should have the right to say who should replace him.
“If that happens, I think it's clear that the entire Democratic Party would be thrilled to have the president nominate a vice president,” Greene said.
“Harris is an influential figure, a thought-provoking woman and an African-American who has served as attorney general of California,” Greene said. “The vice president's qualifications could not be better.”
Greene, whose wife's uncle was Biden's college roommate, also spoke about a meeting last week between governors and the president, during which she asked about Biden's health, to which Biden replied that everything was fine except for his brain.
Greene told The Associated Press that the president was joking, but that the context was lost when the information was leaked to others.
“It was a total joke. You have to be cognitively normal to make self-deprecating jokes,” Green said.
He also denied claims that advisers had engineered the meeting so that governors who support Biden would speak first and stifle any opposition, saying it was instead a very frank, unscripted conversation with 25 governors who disagreed.
“That call went as you would expect in a coffee shop: a few people let their mouths slip, a few people probably overly praised the president, but most were just trying to make sure, 'Are you OK?'” Greene said.
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Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.
