WASHINGTON >> Democrats at the highest levels are making a critical push for President Joe Biden to reevaluate his reelection 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.

Biden’s orbit, already small before his June 27 debate fumbling, has grown even smaller in recent days. Isolated as he battles a COVID infection at home in Delaware, the 81-year-old president is relying on a few longtime aides as he weighs whether to bow to the mounting pressure to drop out.

Late Thursday, Montana Sen. Jon Tester became the second Democratic senator — and now among nearly two dozen in Congress — calling on him to bow out, saying, “Biden should not seek reelection to another term.”The Biden For President campaign is calling an all-staff meeting for Friday. It’s heading into a critical weekend for the party as Republican Donald Trump wraps up a heady Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and Democrats, racing time, consider the extraordinary possibility of Biden stepping aside for a new presidential nominee before their own convention next month in Chicago.

Pelosi, meanwhile, has presented polling to Biden that she argued shows he likely can’t defeat Trump. And several people close to the president said Thursday that they believe he has begun to accept the idea that he may not be able to win in November and may have to drop out of the race, bowing to the growing demands of many anxious members of his party.

This story is based in part on reporting from more than half a dozen people who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive private deliberations.

One of the people close to him warned that the president had not yet made up his mind. But another said that “reality is setting in,” and that it would not be a surprise if Biden made an announcement soon endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.

Biden has insisted he’s not backing down, adamant that he’s the candidate who beat Trump before and will do so again. Pressed about reports that Biden might be softening to the idea of leaving the race, his deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Thursday: “He is not wavering on anything.”

On Friday, the Democratic National Committee’s rulemaking arm expects to meet to discuss plans for the virtual roll call nominating the president in early August, ahead of the party’s convention later that month. Biden has also been told the campaign is having trouble raising money.

Obama, others weighs in, present polling data

Obama has conveyed to allies that Biden needs to consider the viability of his campaign but has also made clear that the decision is one Biden needs to make. The former president has taken calls in recent days from members of congressional leadership, Democratic governors and key donors to discuss their concerns about his former vice president.

Other influential Democrats atop the party apparatus, including congressional leadership headed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are sending signals of concern. Some Democrats hope Biden will take a fresh look at the trajectory of the race and his legacy over the coming days.

Another prominent Democrat to publicly call on the president to consider passing the torch to another candidate was Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a key member of the House committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mike Donilon, Biden’s longtime senior adviser and one of his most loyal confidants, has told the president that the race remains competitive despite Democratic doubts and some of the public polls, insisting that there is still a path to victory, according to other advisers. The president’s family has also been supportive of him sticking it out, noting his long history of overcoming the odds and defying skeptics.

Pelosi, of California, one of the president’s most loyal supporters, has told him that she is pessimistic about his chances, marshaling her knowledge of the political map, polling data and fundraising to press her case.

In a recent call, when Biden insisted he had polls showing he could win, Pelosi said “put Donilon on the phone,” so she could cite her own polls showing the opposite — a direct challenge to the president and an implication that he was not being fully informed.

Among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. That sharply undercuts Biden’s post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him.

Pivotal weekend

If Democrats are seriously preparing the extraordinary step of replacing Biden and shifting to Vice President Harris, this weekend will be critical to changing the president’s mind, other people familiar with the private conversations said.

One senior Biden aide said that at the campaign and the White House, senior staff members are increasingly, if informally, discussing among themselves their sense that Biden’s exit from the race is starting to feel inevitable — a matter of when and how, not if. Those conversations were taboo as recently as a few days ago, the person said.

Over the past week, Schumer and Jeffries, both of New York, have spoken privately to the president, candidly laying out the concerns of Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Congress in play

Control of the House and Senate is at stake, and leaders are keenly aware that a Republican sweep in November could launch Trump’s agenda for years to come.

The chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, spoke with the president last week armed with fresh data. The campaign chief specifically aired the concerns of front-line Democrats seeking election to the House.

Biden, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive for COVID-19, 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.

Biden also said Monday he hadn’t spoken to Obama in a couple of weeks.

This report contains material from the New York Times.