Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., said Monday he was “pretty close” to joining the small number of House Democrats who have publicly called on President Biden to drop out of the race.
In an interview with CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Peters said he hopes the Biden campaign will acknowledge its members’ concerns as valid and articulate a plan to address the drop in support “to win this election and turn things around, especially in the battleground states.”
“But it’s been over a week now,” Peters continued, “and we still haven’t heard anything. I’m starting to feel like it’s time to make the switch.”
Peters said Biden “won reelection” by citing his work on civil rights, infrastructure and getting the U.S. out of the pandemic.
“The problem,” he continued, “is that the polls aren’t moving that way. We were in a bind before the debate. We were hoping for an upswing, and we didn’t get one. In fact, we’ve gone backwards. I think we need to be really clear about where we’re heading, and it’s not a good direction.”
Six House Democrats have recently said publicly that it’s time to drop out of the presidential race amid concerns about Biden’s ability to hang on to the top spot, with several more privately voicing similar views.
But at the same time, many members have vigorously defended Biden, praising his record and pointing out that the American people chose him as the Democratic candidate.
Peters acknowledged the time constraints involved in potentially replacing Biden as the top nominee: Asked about the timeline for the party to make a final decision on its next steps, Peters said, “I don’t think we’re going to let this go past this week.”
“We need to get this resolved this week and then I want to hear from the campaign how they plan to win this election, how they plan to win in the battleground states, where we’ve taken a step back since the debate when we needed a boost.”
Peters did not say whether he would support Vice President Harris as a theoretical successor to Biden.
Asked whether Harris would be a stronger candidate than Biden, Peters said: “We have a lot of talent. We have a lot of potential candidates.”
“As a Californian, I have a soft spot for the vice president, but I like the idea of a mini-primary like the one Rep. Clyburn recently proposed,” Peters continued, referring to Rep. James Clyburn of California. “Let’s see what everybody thinks and still focus on six to 10 states.”
Peters stressed the importance of focusing on battleground states, noting that many of the party’s leaders are from New York, California or Massachusetts.
“We should really listen to the people of these states, including their elected governors and senators, about who is best to win these states … and keep a Democrat in the White House,” he said.
Biden and his campaign have maintained that he has no plans to withdraw from the race. In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, Biden called on other Democrats to challenge him at their national conventions this summer and stressed that he believes he is the best candidate to beat Trump.
