More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns about the viability of President Biden’s reelection campaign, with a third calling Thursday for the commander in chief to step aside and allow the vice president to accept the party’s nomination.
“President Biden has served our country well, but it is time to follow in the footsteps of one of our Founding Fathers, George Washington, and step aside so new leadership can rise up to challenge Donald Trump,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. He told WBUR Thursday radio.
“The exact mechanism that we should follow for other leaders to step up, whether that’s some kind of primary process or going directly to the vice president, [Kamala] “I’m not sure about Harris. It’s not decided yet,” Moulton added.
At least two other House Democrats, Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, earlier this week urged the 81-year-old president to drop out of the 2024 presidential race following his disastrous June 27 debate with Trump.
As of Wednesday, Moulton was one of about a dozen Democrats. Expressing Concerns Biden’s reserved and poised demeanor at the CNN forum raises questions about his mental acuity.
But the Massachusetts Democrat now says hundreds of his party members agree Biden cannot beat his Republican opponent in the Nov. 5 general election and he is considering other candidate options.
Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) and 10 House Democrats are the only ones so far to publicly express a loss of confidence in their party’s leadership, but have stopped short of directly calling on Biden to drop out of the race.
“I think there’s a legitimate question of whether this is an episode or whether this is a symptom,” House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on MSNBC on Tuesday about Biden’s debate fiasco.
“Both candidates have an obligation to undergo any testing that is available in terms of their intellectual ability and their health,” she argued, but did not immediately say whether she wanted Biden and Trump to undergo cognitive tests.
Fellow California Democrat Rep. Jared Huffman went further Thursday, saying Biden’s debate missteps cannot be ignored.
“It wasn’t just a bad night. It was a bad night that may have solidified a really unfortunate narrative about President Biden’s age and health, and that narrative may be very difficult to overturn,” Huffman said. He told CNN“So we have to be honest about that.”
The president’s campaign has dismissed the “bedwetters” among Democrats who have called on him to withdraw, but Biden has slipped in polls for the 2024 election since his spat with Trump, 78.
A New York Times/Siena College poll found the 45th president leading by eight percentage points (49% to 41%) among registered voters, while a Wall Street Journal poll found Trump leading Biden by six points (48% to 42%) among the same demographic.
“We needed the momentum from Thursday and we didn’t get it. I think the campaign’s response was very arrogant,” Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., said in a speech Wednesday. Interview with CBS 8 San Diego.
During a pre-recorded radio show broadcast in the battleground state of Wisconsin on July 4, Biden acknowledged that his Republican opponent had “a terrible night.”
“I failed and I made mistakes, but I learned from my dad that when you get knocked down, you get up,” he said on The Earl Ingram Show.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) did not speak privately with the president about the debate until nearly a week after it took place.
Both men have since voiced their support for Biden, with Schumer telling reporters on Tuesday that Biden I am mentally healthy enough to serve another term.According to NBC News.
The Democratic National Committee has also issued misleading talking points to promote Biden as the party’s “sole” candidate, even as insiders have told media outlets that there is an avenue for an alternative candidate to Biden.
Behind the scenes, at least 25 House Democrats have reportedly been circulating a letter urging Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, but it is unclear when or if the letter will be made public.
And while some Republicans have suggested Biden’s physical and mental decline is accelerating enough to justify his resignation, no Democrats have publicly said the president should step down immediately.
“Democratic elites and their media mouthpieces are now obsessed with removing Biden from the running for president,” said Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a possible vice presidential running mate for Trump. Posted on Wednesday in X.
“But if he’s unfit to run for president, he’s unfit to be president,” Vance said. “If he’s not going to run again, he should step down as commander in chief.”
