At least four top House Democrats said President Biden should withdraw from the 2024 presidential election during a private phone call on Sunday afternoon, sources told The Hill, a worrying sign for the president as he insists on staying in the race after his disastrous performance in the last debate. month.
Reps. Jerry Nadler (DN.Y.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Joe Morelle (DN.Y.) have expressed support for a change at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, three sources familiar with the matter told The Hill. Two of those sources said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) was also part of that chorus of voices.
“They were part of the general feeling that we needed to do something else,” one of the sources told The Hill.
The quartet of Democrats — who serve as ranking members of key House committees — made their positions known during a private call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), top leaders of the House Democratic Caucus and the top Democrats on committees. .
Nadler is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Morelle of the Administration Committee, Takano of the Veterans Affairs Committee and Smith of the Armed Services Committee.
The Hill has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
The four senior Democrats privately voicing support for Biden’s exit are joining five Democratic lawmakers who have publicly called on the president to withdraw from the 2024 race in the days following last month’s poor debate performance, where he at times stumbled words and appeared to lose his train of thought.
That list includes Reps. Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Mike Quigley (Ill.), Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Seth Moulton (Mass.) and Angie Craig (Minn.).
Biden sat down for an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday in an attempt to calm concerns within the party, but some Democrats say the 22-minute conversation fell short of that goal.
“The interview did not put an end to the concerns,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “No single interview will do that.”
The California Democrat said Biden’s debate performance “raised questions among the American people about whether the president has the stamina to defeat Donald Trump.”
“He should look for people with a certain distance and objectivity. He should look for researchers other than his own researchers. He should take a moment to make his best informed judgment. And if judgment is carried out, then run hard and defeat that son of a bitch,” he added.
Biden, despite growing public pressure, has said he has no plans to drop out of the presidential race.
“Let me say this as clearly as possible: I am the sitting president of the United States. I am the candidate of the Democratic Party. I will continue in the race,” Biden wrote in the the social platformon Friday.
Meanwhile, veteran House Democrats have remained by Biden’s side so far. Jeffries and Rep. James Clyburn (D-C.) told reporters last week that Biden should not drop out of the race, and a spokesperson for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that the top House Democrat “has full confidence in President Biden and looks forward to attending his inauguration on January 20, 2025.”
Last week, however, Pelosi told MSNBC in an interview that it is “legitimate” to ask Biden and Trump “is this an episode or is this a condition,” which raised questions about her support for Biden.
Amie Parnes contributed.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
