US POLITICS
These are the Democratic Representatives who say President Biden should drop out of the Presidential Race
The list of Congressional Democrats who have called on President Biden to drop out of the race grew to five over the weekend.
A small but growing group of Democratic leaders are calling on President Joe Biden to bow out of the 2024 race for the White House. The president’s debate performance in late June against his presumed opponent, Donald Trump, left many members of his party stunned and concerned for his health.
The White House has made clear that the president has no intention of dropping out of the race, a message he affirmed at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday and in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, which aired later that evening. President Biden blamed his disastrous performance on the fact that he had been sick and not well-rested in the days leading up to the debate. That exhaustion caught up with him, leading him to flounder and unable to counter the lies spread by Donald Trump.
Which Congressional leaders have called on President Biden to drop out?
Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas, a Democrat, was the first member of Congress to call on Biden to drop out of the race publically. The Texas leader said his hope was “that the debate would provide some momentum.” As the event unfolded, he grew concerned when Biden “failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”
Rep. Doggett is 77 years old and serving his fifteenth term in Congress. The fact that the first call from a member of Congress came from someone within the president’s age group helped to quell concerns of agism and refocus the conversation on President Biden’s cognitive abilities, not that of all people in their 80s.
A year younger than Con. Doggett, Arizona Representative Raúl Grijalva, 76, told the New York Times that the president was responsible for dropping out of the race to ensure Democrats win in November.
“What [President Biden] needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race.”
These calls became before the Fourth of July and the long holiday weekend.
On Thursday, July 4, two weeks after the debate and as celebrations were taking place across the country, Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton said in a radio interview with WBUR that he was not confident in President Biden’s ability to win against Donald Trump. The same day, Rep. Moulton released a statement on X, explaining that the president needs to demonstrate that he can make the case to the voters of what is at stake in November.
On Friday, July 5, in an interview on ‘All In with Chris Hayes,” Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley said that the president’s legacy is secured and that the best thing he can do for the party is step aside. Much of Rep. Quigley’s opinion is based on the threat that Ukraine faces under a second Trump term, with his district representing one of the largest Ukrainian communities in the country.
The most recent Congressional leader to voice her disapproval with Biden remaining at the top of the ticket is Minnesota’s Angie Craig who released a statement on Saturday, July 6.
Rep. Craig was one of the first leaders to mention the president’s ABC interview, which aired on Friday night.
In her statement, she said that after the debate and the “lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump.” The Minnesota leader said there was talent within the party and that “too much [is] at stake to risk a second Donald Trump presidency.”
“That’s why I respectfully call on President Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee for a second term as President and allow for a new generation of leaders to step forward,” argued Rep. Craig.
Those who have raised concerns “off the record”
In addition to these five leaders, many others have mentioned their doubts that President Biden can defeat Trump after the first debate. This group contains major leaders in the House Democratic Caucus, like New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, who CBS reports met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to express their concerns alongside California Representative Mark Takano (CA-D), Adam Smith (WA-D) and Joe Morelle (NY-D). The meeting has not been announced publically by his participants, but CBS’ Ed O’Keefe, Nikole Killion, and Kaia Hubbard reported that it took place earlier today, Sunday, July 7.
As leaders head back to Washington following the holiday weekend, more names are expected to surface as the White House continues to try to put the conversation to rest.