Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who is running for re-election this cycle, on Friday became the third Senate Democrat to call on President Biden to drop out of the race.
While Heinrich called the president “one of the most gifted presidents in modern history” in a statement, he also argued that “this moment in our nation’s history demands a focus that is bigger than any one person.”
“While the decision to withdraw from the campaign is solely President Biden’s, I believe it is in our country’s best interest for him to step aside,” he said. “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.”
Heinrich will face Republican Nella Domenici in November as the Senate Democrat seeks a third term in the upper chamber.
The nonpartisan election pollster Cook Political Report rates his seat as “solid Democratic.”
On Thursday, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who is running for a fourth term and is in a tight race for re-election, called on Biden to drop out of the race as tensions within the Democratic Party intensified over the holder and his candidacy. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) was the first Senate Democrat to push for the president’s recall.
Meanwhile, several House Democrats — Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Marc Veasey (D-Texas), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) — have also released a document joint statement on Friday calling for the president to drop out of the race.
But Biden and his campaign have remained adamant that the president will be the Democratic nominee, despite growing calls from party members for him to step aside.
“Joe Biden has made this abundantly clear: he is in this race and he is in it to win it. Furthermore, he is the presumptive nominee, there are no plans for an alternative candidate,” Dan Kanninen, the Biden campaign’s swing states director, wrote in a memo released after the Republican National Convention.
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