Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers will not attend White House crisis meeting with President Biden Wednesday night

 

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- More than 20 Democratic governors will be on a call Wednesday night with President Joe Biden after his rocky debate performance against Donald Trump last week. 

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he will not be one of them.

Some top Democrats have now called for the president to drop out of the 2024 election, with Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas leading the charge on Tuesday. 

While other Congress members disagree, many Democrats believe his debate performance does raise questions about his fitness for office.

During a press briefing on July 3, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the president was "absolutely not" stepping down. 

Just hours later, the same message was echoed by President Biden himself during a one-on-one interview with Earl Ingram Jr., the host of The Earl Ingram Show on the Civic Media Radio Network.

"With what he had to say, he clearly wants another shot at this, he wants another crack at it," Ingram Jr. told CBS 58's Ellie Nakamoto-White. "The one thing he's never been is somebody who's a quitter. He's a fighter, and I'm sure he's going to fight all the way through this."

In a clip from the interview shared with CBS 58, the president admitted he "had a bad night," adding that "the fact of the matter is, I screwed up and made a mistake. That's 90 minutes on stage, look what I've done in 3.5 years."

Joe Zepecki, a Democratic strategist based in Milwaukee, agreed that voters should focus on President Biden's impact rather than the performance itself.

"Did he have a bad debate last week? He sure did. Does that mean that the last three-plus years of accomplishments and bringing this country back together and putting this country back on its feet should just be forgotten and instant? Absolutely not," Zepecki said. "What's remarkable about Joe Biden is despite the number of times he was counted out, as recently as four years ago when he was getting his butt kicked in primary after primary, is how he was able to bring the big tent of the Democratic party together and unite us in a mission to save democracy. We did that in 2020. We're trying to do that again in 2024. That's the job."

Zepecki said both the strength and weakness of the Democratic Party "is our diversity."

"We're a very big tent," Zepecki said. "A lot of different points of view."

President Biden is expected to visit Madison on Friday for an event, marking his fifth visit to the state this year.

Gov. Evers has said he plans to attend.

You can watch or listen to Civic Media's whole interview at 9 a.m. on July 4 on The Earl Ingram Show.