Cracks are beginning to appear in President Biden’s support within the Democratic Party, raising doubts about whether he can hold on to the top spot in the final stretch leading up to Election Day.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who has served in Congress for nearly three decades, broke a wall of elected support for Biden on Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to publicly call for him to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
“I represent the heart of the district once represented by Lyndon Johnson, who, under very different circumstances, made the difficult decision to withdraw,” Doggett said in a statement. “President Biden should do the same.”
Meanwhile, moderate Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) Bangor Daily News“Donald Trump is going to win, and I’m OK with that,” he said Tuesday, while rejecting Biden’s claim that former president Trump is a “particular threat to our democracy.” Golden’s district went to Trump by just over 6 percentage points in 2020.
And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Biden confidant, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that it was “legitimate” to ask both candidates “is this an episode or is this an illness?”, questioning whether veteran Democrats have confidence in Biden as a candidate. But later that day, her spokesman Ian Craig said, “Speaker Pelosi has the utmost confidence in President Biden and looks forward to attending the inauguration on January 20, 2025.”
The dam hasn’t yet broken, with a majority of Democratic politicians backing Biden, including the party’s most senior members. But their comments on Tuesday signaled a shift in tone that suggests support for Biden is fading since the debate, a worrying reality for the incumbent’s campaign.
Some Democrats have said being the first to publicly call for Biden to step down could lead others to follow suit.
“I think so, but I’m not sure,” one House Democrat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, told The Hill in a text message when asked whether Doggett’s call would encourage others to come forward.
To be sure, the White House, Biden’s campaign and his surrogates have made clear their candidate has no plans to withdraw from the race, and they are pressing forward with his campaign. Biden spoke at rallies over the weekend, is scheduled to visit Wisconsin on Friday and will speak with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos this week in his first post-debate interview.
However, the decline in support among Democratic Party supporters is becoming more apparent every day, and this is not limited to incumbent lawmakers.
Adam Frisch, a Colorado Democrat running for Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) seat, said Biden should “do what’s best for the country and withdraw from the race.” Julián Castro, former President Barack Obama’s Housing and Urban Development secretary who ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020, said the president should withdraw from the race, telling MSNBC that “there are stronger options out there for the Democrats.”
And former Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio Democrat), Biden’s other 2020 presidential opponent, has called on VP Harris to become the party’s nominee in place of Biden.
“These videos will be on TikTok, they will be on Instagram, they will be on every social media platform,” Ryan told The Hill in an interview. He said Biden “is a very vocal supporter of the Democratic Party, and he’s a very vocal supporter of the Democratic Party.” [Russian President] Whether it’s Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump or anyone else, it’s now in the consciousness of every American.”
“There’s no way to overcome that other than asking him not to run.”
Early polls have also highlighted Biden’s declining support within the Democratic Party and among general voters.
a The CNN poll was released Tuesday. The survey found that 56% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters said they thought Democrats would have a better chance of winning the White House with a candidate other than Biden, up from 53% in January, while 43% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents said the party should stick with Biden.
a CBS News investigationThe poll released Monday found that 72% of registered voters believe Biden is not in good enough mental and cognitive health to serve as president, up from 65% on June 9. Just 27% of respondents said Biden is fit for the presidency.
The waning support for Biden among Democrats is emblematic of ongoing discussions behind the scenes, with sources saying lawmakers are concerned about the party’s chances of victory if Biden comes out on top in November.
“It’s time for him to step down,” one House Democrat told The Hill on Friday, the day after the debate, noting that it was a sentiment shared by many within the caucus.
“We were all together this morning doing stuff and there’s nobody that I’ve spoken to who at this point thinks it’s not time for him to go,” added the lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive deliberations.
A second House Democrat, who also asked not to be named, did not say whether Biden should withdraw from the race but said lawmakers were concerned about Biden’s status as the party’s nominee.
“There’s been a lot of talk here and from our friends around the country that we need someone who can clearly get our message across, and we didn’t see that last night,” the congressman said. “A lot of people are saying that… [A] That’s the case for most of the people I spoke to today.”
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, who served as a leader in House Democrats for more than two decades before resigning earlier this year, reiterated on Tuesday that he would support Harris if Biden leaves office, lending credibility to the notion that the president might give up his status as the party’s presumptive nominee.
In an interview with “The Hill on NewsNation” later that day, the veteran South Carolina Democrat said he plans to speak with Biden on Tuesday or Wednesday and that he plans to let the incumbent know how he really feels, but that it won’t include advice to “drop out of the race.”
But at the same time, Clyburn said he expects Biden’s team to provide answers for voters.
“I think the American people want an explanation. They need reassurance,” Clyburn said of the aftermath of Thursday’s debate. “I’m hopeful that we’ll get that in the next few days.”
Caroline Vakil contributed..
