The chorus of congressional Democrats calling on President Biden to drop his reelection campaign and allow the party to nominate a new leader has grown to roughly three dozen.
The number of Democratic lawmakers willing to go public with their views increased quickly amid reports of top Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries of New York privately pressuring Mr. Biden to step aside.
Four House Democrats put out a joint statement on Friday calling on Mr. Biden to “pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders.”
Reps. Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, Chuy Garcia of Illinois and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin expressed “admiration” and “respect” for Mr. Biden’s decades of public service. But they said they “must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign.”
“These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened in the aftermath of last month’s debate and are now unlikely to change,” they said. “We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do in this moment is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House.”
Mr. Veasey is the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to call on Mr. Biden to drop out of the race.
SEE ALSO: Biden says he will return to campaign trail ‘next week’ as more Dems urge him to quit
The lawmakers said Mr. Biden helped prepare Democrats for this moment by empowering and preparing “a deep and talented bench of younger leaders, led by Vice President Kamala Harris.” Allowing for one of those Democrats to replace him as the nominee “would reinvigorate the race and infuse Democrats with enthusiasm and momentum heading into our convention next month,” they said.
But Mr. Biden said Friday he looks forward to returning to the campaign trail next week after he recovers from COVID-19.
The four Democrats were not the only ones to call on Mr. Biden to drop out on Friday.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, New Mexico Democrat, became the third senator to publicly suggest the president exit the race.
“By passing the torch, he would secure his legacy as one of our nation’s greatest leaders and allow us to unite behind a candidate who can best defeat Donald Trump and safeguard the future of our democracy,” he said.
Reps. Greg Landsman of Ohio and Zoe Lofgren of California joined the growing deluge of lawmakers calling on Mr. Biden to step aside within minutes of each other on Friday.
SEE ALSO: Biden’s campaign on the brink as Obama raises doubts amid more sinking polls
Mr. Landsman is a frontline Democrat who flipped his seat in 2022, and is facing a tough race against Republican candidate Orlando Sonza.
Like his colleagues, Mr. Landsman warned that Mr. Trump poses a threat to democracy. He said in a statement that Mr. Biden could no longer “make the case” to voters that he is the one to beat the former president and stop the “rise of fascism and authoritarianism” should Mr. Trump win another term.
“It is time for President Biden to step aside and allow us to nominate a new leader who can reliably and consistently make the case against Donald Trump and make the case for the future of America,” Mr. Landsman said.
Ms. Lofgren, a strong ally of Ms. Pelosi who served on the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said that she would “not go through” another Trump presidency again, and pointed to internal polling data that both she and Mr. Biden have seen showing his path to victory disappearing.
“Simply put, your candidacy is on a trajectory to lose the White House and potentially impact crucial House and Senate races down ballot,” she said in a letter to Mr. Biden. “It is for these reasons that I urge you to step aside from our party’s nomination to allow another Democratic candidate to compete against and beat Donald Trump in the November election.”
Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois published an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune in which he also suggested Mr. Biden “pass the torch to a new generation.”
“If the upcoming election is a referendum on past performance, future promises and character, I have every confidence Biden would win,” he said. “But politics, like life, isn’t fair. And as long as this election is instead litigated over which candidate is more likely to be held accountable for public gaffes and ’senior moments,’ I believe that Biden is not only going to lose but is also uniquely incapable of shifting that conversation.”
Mr. Casten, like most of the other Democrats who’ve called on Mr. Biden to step aside for a new nominee, described the possibility of former President Donald Trump being elected to a second term “an existential threat” as he noted the “tremendous fear” coming from his constituents.
“People wonder whether our nation — and indeed, our world — can survive another Trump administration,” he said. “They watched women’s rights get stripped away by the Supreme Court; saw our enemies praised and our allies alienated; and saw children separated from families, Muslims banned from entering our country and neo-Nazis praised as ’very fine people.’”
Mr. Casten’s op-ed comes after Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat, confirmed to The New York Times on Thursday that he penned a letter to Mr. Biden earlier this month containing a metaphor comparing Mr. Biden, 81, to a tiring baseball pitcher and urged him to consult with fellow Democrats about whether to continue his campaign.
While Mr. Raskin said in the letter, dated July 6, that he was not writing to tell Mr. Biden what to do, there was no mistaking the suggestion contained in the metaphor.
“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics,” Mr. Raskin wrote.
“Your situation is tricky because you are both our star pitcher and our manager,” he said. “But in democracy, as you have shown us more than any prior president, you are not a manager acting all alone; you are the co-manager along with our great team and our great people. Caucus with the team, Mr. President. Hear them out. You will make the right decision.”
Mr. Raskin and Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who called for Mr. Biden to drop out on Wednesday, are the most high-profile Democrats to publicly state their views. Both served as House impeachment managers in the two Senate trials charging Mr. Trump with abusing his power and inciting an insurrection. The Senate acquitted Mr. Trump but the trials raised the profiles of Mr. Schiff and Mr. Raskin.
Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, widely considered the most vulnerable Democrat up for reelection this fall, became the second senator to go public with his statement on Thursday night saying Mr. Biden “should not seek re-election to another term.” Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont also has called on the president to step aside.
Rep. Jim Costa, California Democrat, also put out a statement Thursday night calling on Mr. Biden to “pass the torch to the next generation to carry on the legacy he started.”
Mr. Biden, who has COVID and is isolating in Delaware, reiterated earlier this week his intention to remain in the race, a sentiment his campaign aides have reemphasized amid the daily trickle of news about Democrats pressuring him to drop out.
“Absolutely, the president’s in this race,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said on MSNBC Friday. “You heard him say that time and time again, and I think we saw on display last night exactly why. Because Donald Trump is not going to offer anything new to the American people.”
Ms. O’Malley Dillon said the campaign is taking the concerns people are expressing seriously and acknowledged “some slippage in support,” but she dismissed it as “a small movement.”
Several congressional Democrats have also come to Mr. Biden’s defense.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, did an hourlong live video on Instagram late Thursday expressing her concerns about “the reality and the gravity” of trying to replace Mr. Biden as the nominee, given legal and other challenges that could arise.
“People are talking about this without having two eyes wide open as to what this really means,” she said.
At an event in Brooklyn on Friday, Mr. Jeffries said of the president, “Right now, we’ve got the Biden-Harris ticket. We’re going to support that ticket because the stakes are too high at this time,” The New York Times reported.
• Alex Miller contributed to this story.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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