Democratic Party calls for President Joe Biden to retire following Thursday night’s presidential debate with former President Donald Trump are growing, and choosing his successor could face tough legal hurdles, even though some political groups are already preparing. Biden’s troubles come as a growing number of progressive figures in Congress and on the courts are refusing to retire despite pressure from liberal activists.
“The leverage is almost entirely with President Biden,” Mike Howell, executive director of the conservative watchdog group Heritage Oversight Project, said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“Forcing him to be replaced is much harder than having him voluntarily recuse himself, so I expect that’s what the conversation will be. I think the only people right now fighting to keep President Biden on the ballot are President Biden, Jill Biden and, interestingly, myself, because we’re going to sue to make sure his name stays on the ballot.”
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President Biden speaks at a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center in Philadelphia on April 18, 2024. (Hannah Beyer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Howell added that securing a replacement for a presidential candidate would be “not easy” and would create “a huge legal and procedural nightmare for the replacement candidate.”
“There’s precedent for candidates dying in other state and local elections, but this is a presidential election and it’s uncharted territory because they have to navigate basically 50 different stages, sets of rules, laws, procedures and political environments,” Howell said. “So, at the end of the day, whatever they do, it’s going to depend a lot on the facts and it’s going to matter more in certain states than others.”
And Biden is not the first Democratic or liberal politician to disappoint progressives by rejecting calls to retire.
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in 2020 after 27 years in office. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in 2020 after 27 years in office. She was 87 years old at the time of her death, during President Trump’s presidency. Amy Coney Barrett was nominated and successfully confirmed as her successor.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., died in September at age 90. She cast her final vote as a senator just hours before her death. Her seat is currently one of the hotly contested races in this election, with Republican candidates former MLB star Steve Garvey and Rep. Adam Schiff running for office.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 84, is facing calls to retire, but she has vowed to run for reelection this year to extend her 36-year term in the House. She has long been a lightning rod for stoking Republican enthusiasm and benefiting from conservative fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts.
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Senator Dianne Feinstein (Drew Ungerer/Getty Images/File)
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, also faced growing calls for his retirement last year after he announced he would step down as leader in November.
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“You can’t compare Biden to McConnell because Republicans are asking McConnell to resign and McConnell is resigning,” Howell added. “So this is a non-comparison issue.”
The president’s mental acuity became a central focus of political debate last month following a shocking Washington Journal report – denied by the White House – which revealed that many members of Congress had doubts about Biden’s mental acuity, with many saying his aging was evident in private meetings.
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