Fiery private chats reveal how deeply Biden has divided Dem delegates

President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance set off a heated argument among California delegates to the Democratic nominating convention, exposing deep anxiety among party leaders in the nation’s largest state — and a profound lack of confidence in Biden as a general election candidate.

The emotionally charged exchanges unraveled in invite-only channels, including a Facebook group for convention delegates called the 2024 California DNC Delegate Group. The debate spilled into a smaller Signal chain of state party delegates in and around Los Angeles, which includes activists who plan to attend the convention next month in Chicago. The cache of messages was obtained by POLITICO.

Democrats have largely kept their internal arguments about Biden’s future out of the public eye so far. But the previously unrevealed conversations among California Democrats make plain that, behind the scenes, the party is in a state of angry turmoil over a presidential campaign suddenly gone badly awry.