Rep. Pat Ryan (DN.Y.), a vulnerable House Democrat, is calling on President Biden to step aside in the 2024 race, becoming the eighth lawmaker in the lower chamber to publicly urge the incumbent to withdraw.
Ryan – who represents New York’s 18th Congressional District – told The New York Times in an interview published Wednesday, he doesn’t believe Biden is the strongest Democrat to face former President Trump in November.
“I would be doing him a grave disservice if I said he was the best candidate to serve this fall,” Ryan told the Times. “For the sake of our country, for the sake of my two young children, I ask Joe Biden to step aside in the next election and fulfill his promise to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders.”
“I really hope with all my heart that he listens,” he added.
Ryan’s comments are the latest sign that Biden’s support in Congress has waned following his disastrous debate performance last month, where he at times appeared to lose his train of thought and stumble over his words.
Biden, for his part, has been adamant about his intention to remain in the race. During an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, the president said “I’m not going anywhere,” and later that day he told donors in a call “I am the Democratic candidate.”
Several Democratic lawmakers — especially those from the influential Congressional Black Caucus — have supported the president’s stance, telling reporters they support Biden as he seeks re-election and arguing that he is the best candidate to take on Trump.
“I spoke to the president over the weekend. I’ve been talking to him a lot. He made it clear then — and has made it clear since — that he is in this race,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) told reporters Monday night. “The matter is closed.”
Democrats in Congress on Tuesday appeared to unite behind keeping Biden as their 2024 nominee, though some still expressed discomfort with the proposal.
Eight Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside so far, and sources say several others are expressing the same view behind the scenes.
A House Democrat who says Biden should step aside and requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic told The Hill this week that several members are waiting to post post-debate polling about how the president’s position at the top of the ticket will affect the negative vote. races and ultimately influence Democrats’ chances of taking control of the House.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), another front-line Democrat, also called on Biden to step aside from the ticket.
In a sign of more potential headwinds, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — a close Biden ally who is being closely watched in the debate over the president’s viability as a candidate — said Wednesday “it is up to the president to decide whether he will run”, a comment that raised eyebrows, as Biden made it clear that he intends to remain in the race.
Ryan told the Times that his opinion of Biden began to change after he spoke to voters in his district after the debate who said they were “deeply concerned” about the president’s ability to seek another term.
The New York Democrat directly accepted Biden’s comments that it is the “elites” who are driving the effort to remove him from the ticket, citing his voters in his country.
“These are the opposite of elites,” Ryan said. “It’s people eating hot dogs and drinking beer and talking about my Yankees and the state of the country and expressing some very deep and important things.”
Ryan, 42, praised Biden’s “historic accomplishments” over the past 3.5 years and said he could usher in “Part 2” of his legacy of stepping aside and allowing a new generation of Democratic leaders to take control.
“I really think this would go down in history at or near what George Washington did in terms of stepping aside for the good of the country,” he said. “It would be a stark contrast to Trump’s selfishness.”
Updated at 1:04 p.m.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
