There alarm has been growing among Democrats over Joe Biden’s performance in Thursday’s debate, amplifying concerns that he will not be able to defeat Donald Trump in November.
But so far, very few prominent Democrats have publicly called for Biden to resign.
One of Biden’s longtime allies, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said Tuesday on MSNBC that it is a “legitimate question” to ask whether Biden’s pauses during the debate were “an episode or is it a condition ?” But she stopped short of calling for Biden to withdraw, saying people should also be concerned about Trump’s mental acuity. She said opinions are “contradictory” about whether Biden is up to the job, but, she said, “I trust his judgment.”
One of Biden’s most important Democratic allies, South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, said Tuesday on MSNBC that he would support Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden stepped aside. This is an obvious claim for a co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign, but it took on additional weight during a week filled with speculation about whether Biden should remain on the ticket.
Although it is unlikely, Biden could still drop out of the race before the elections. Here are some prominent Democrats who have so far publicly called for Biden to step down.
Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas
Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett was the first Democrat currently serving in Congress to call for Biden’s resignation. He said in a statement Tuesday that Biden’s poor poll numbers and debate performance were an important part of his decision. “President Biden continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls trailed Donald Trump,” Doggett said in a statement. “I hoped the debate would provide some momentum to change that. This did not happened. Instead of reassuring voters, the President has failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”
In his announcement, Doggett referenced former President Lyndon Johnson’s 1968 decision to withdraw from the presidential race due to deep divisions within the Democratic Party over the war in Vietnam. “I represent the heart of a congressional district that was once represented by Lyndon Johnson,” said Doggett. “Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw.
Tim Ryan, former Ohio congressman from 2003 to 2023
Former Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan called on Biden to step aside when he published an OpEd piece in Newsweek on Tuesday saying “it’s time” to make Harris the party’s nominee. “We have to rip the band-aid off! There is a lot at stake,” Ryan wrote in
Julian Castro, former Obama administration Housing Secretary
Julian Castro, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2017 during the Obama administration, wrote in X on June 28: “Biden had a very low bar at the start of the debate and was unable to overcome even that bar. He seemed unprepared, lost and not strong enough to effectively oppose Trump, who constantly lies.” On Tuesday, Castro said in MSNBC that “another Democrat would have a better chance” of defeating Trump.
Jason Newis, Massachusetts State Senator
Massachusetts State Senator Jason Lewis made the comment in a Boston Public Radio Interview on June 28, in which he compared Biden’s candidacy to a train about to crash. “Our choice is, you know, to jump off that train,” Lewis said.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
