House Democratic lawmakers rebuffed Republican calls for President Biden to resign from office or for Vice President Kamala Harris to gather the Cabinet and invoke the 25th Amendment to declare Mr. Biden incapable of serving out his term.
Mr. Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential contest Sunday via social media and endorsed Ms. Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee, just one month before his party gathers in Chicago for its convention.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico said Mr. Biden “is very fit to serve our country.”
“He wakes up every single day and is not only a national leader, but a global leader. I work with him. We all interact with him. He clearly has his full faculties,” she said. “He’s clearly already running the country.”
Rep. Dan Goldman of New York said Mr. Biden did not withdraw from the race because he was medically unfit for office.
“He made it clear that he was stepping down to pass this on to a new generation of leaders to ensure that Donald Trump does not get in the office of the presidency on November 5,” said Mr. Goldman. “He has been a historically consequential president who has led us on the international stage in brilliant fashion, and has passed historic legislation. And there is nothing about him that’s unfit to be president.”
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington D.C. also said she thinks Mr. Biden is fit to finish out the final months of his term.
“I don’t think he has to resign right now. I don’t think there’s anything medically wrong,” said Ms. Norton, the District’s non-voting delegate to the House. “I think that he should fulfill his duties until a new [president] is chosen.”
Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia called Mr. Biden an “honorable man” and that he is “putting country ahead of party and his own personal ambition.” He added, “That is to be honored today.”
Mr. Biden left the race after weeks of mounting pressure from fellow Democrats, donors and media personalities urging him to step aside, following a disastrous June 27 debate performance against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Subsequent interviews with friendly media did not make things any better for Mr. Biden and forced Democratic lawmakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to question if his declining mental acuity was just an “episode” or a “condition.”
Republicans say Mr. Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 campaign did not go far enough and that he must resign as president immediately.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said on Sunday.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn said the decision to withdraw is an acknowledgment he is not up to the job.
“But he didn’t go far enough. If Joe is too weak to stay in the race for the presidency, he should resign as our Commander-in-Chief immediately,” the Tennessee Republican said.
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the GOP nominee for vice president, had been calling for the president to leave the White House even before he made the announcement to quit the race.
“If Joe Biden ends his reelection campaign, how can he justify remaining President?” Mr. Vance said on X on Sunday. “Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson said there are too many significant parts of the president’s job to have it in the hands of someone incapable of running a political campaign.
“If the president is mentally unfit to campaign, he is mentally unfit to have the nuclear codes,” Mr. Hudson said.
— Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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