Passing the TorchA new grassroots group, Condemn Biden, which is calling for Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, held a rally outside the White House on Saturday.
“Thanks, Joe. It’s time to go!” The group yelled. Outside the gates, organizers said about 100 people attended.
President Biden has been under intense pressure from members of his own party to abandon the Democratic nomination since his disastrous performance in the debates at the end of June, and as of Saturday, 35 Democrats had publicly called for him to step down.
In a statement released before the rally, Pass the Torch said its movement was driven by concerns that Biden could not defeat former President Trump, and described November as an “existential election.”
“We need the presidential candidate most likely to beat President Trump, but a majority of Democrats believe President Biden is not that candidate and should step aside,” wrote Aaron Regenburg, a member of the organization’s steering committee. “That’s why we’re planning something that will be harder to ignore: a demonstration in front of the White House.”
“Biden has done a great job over the past four years,” Claudia Nacega, a 19-year-old contestant from Maryland, told The Hill. “Given Biden’s declining approval ratings, I definitely think it’s time to field a new Democratic candidate who can be sure to win in November.”
“That’s why I’m here today to ask Joe Biden to pass the baton so that we can rally people, especially young people, behind our new candidate.”
Some, including progressive Democrats, view those calling for the president to step down as Democratic elites.
“I think it’s factually wrong to say that,” rally attendee Emily O’Keefe, a 22-year-old from Virginia, responded.
“This is a concern that is shared across a broad swath of the Democratic Party,” rally attendee Quentin Colon Roosevelt, a 20-year-old from Washington who joined the party. “I think privately there are a lot of us, including progressives, who would like to see new leadership in the Oval Office.”
“You know, this is a group of ordinary people who want to protect the future and maximize its potential,” O’Keefe emphasized.
Biden is currently in isolation in Delaware recovering from COVID-19. In a statement released on Friday, the Biden campaign reiterated its commitment to continue the campaign into November.
“Donald Trump’s bleak vision of the future is not who we are as Americans. As a party and as a nation, we can and will come together to defeat him at the ballot box,” Biden said. “The stakes are high and the choice is clear. United, we will win.”
