Amid growing calls for President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, Democratic lawmakers in California and Illinois are taking on a larger role in the effort to persuade the president to step aside from the campaign.
As of Friday, six California Democrats and five Illinois Democrats had called on the president to drop out of the race, outnumbering many other state legislative delegations in calling for Biden to withdraw.
According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ tracker, California Democrats calling for Biden to step down include Reps. Scott Peters, Adam Schiff, Mark Levin, Jim Costa, Jared Huffman and Zoe Lofgren, and Illinois Democrats Mike Quigley, Brad Schneider, Eric Sorensen, Sean Kasten and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
Also notable about these two states are the presence of prominent Democratic Party figures, former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who are based in these states and have reportedly expressed the view that the president will not win the November presidential election.
Pelosi’s California is one of the most Democratic states and a Democratic stronghold in terms of votes, donors and political talent, while Obama’s home state of Illinois tended to be a swing state in the 2010 election cycle but leaned heavily Democratic again by 2016 and has recently become a true Democratic state.
Pelosi is one of the Democratic Party’s most influential voices and astute political activists — though she has since stepped down from leadership — and the requests from lawmakers like Schiff and Huffman are widely believed to be the result of her influence, after she has personally pressured Biden to step aside.
Illinois lawmakers may have felt comfortable making the statement, believing that President Obama was also exerting pressure to change the dynamics of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden have a long and complicated history together, and in recent weeks Mr. Biden’s team has reminded the political world that they are often underestimated, mainly due to Mr. Obama’s decision to endorse former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, rather than Vice President Biden, for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The calls from lawmakers in California and Illinois come in the continuing fallout from Biden’s disastrous loss to former President Trump in the June 27 presidential debate, which has raised concerns about Biden’s age, mental health and ability to retake the White House in the fall.
As of Friday, at least 30 lawmakers have called on Biden to step down within three weeks.
Democratic officials told The Hill on Thursday they expect the president to make a major announcement about his future in the coming days, something the White House and Biden’s campaign have denied.
Biden and his supporters have said they will rebel and continue to campaign for the November election if Biden comes out on top, and Vice President Harris, a fellow California Democrat, has also voiced unwavering support for the president.
“Of course the president is in this race,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said Friday, adding that the president is “more committed than ever to defeating Donald Trump.”
“You’ve heard it many times directly from the president: He’s in this race to win, he’s our nominee and he’s going to be our president for a second term,” she said.
