WASHINGTON – Ten more congressional Democrats called on President Joe Biden on Friday to withdraw his re-election campaign, the most in a single day since a tender debate performance shook fellow Democrats’ confidence in his ability to win the November election.
The 10 Democrats on Friday, one day after former President Donald Trump officially accepted his party’s nomination At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the total number of votes rose to 31, increasing the pressure on Biden to drop out of the race.
While no member of the Democratic congressional leadership has publicly called for Biden’s resignation, several leading Democrats who were involved in either Trump’s impeachment proceedings or the investigation into the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol have expressed concerns, citing that the former president poses a threat to democracy.
California Rep. Adam Schiff, who led the impeachment trial in Trump’s first impeachment, called on Biden to withdraw, saying in a statement that he had “serious concerns” about the president’s ability to win a second term.
And Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who served on the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, did not explicitly call on Biden to resign, but urged the president to reconsider remaining in the presidential race.
Biden remained at home in Delaware and had no public events planned. The COVID-19 test was positive on Wednesday evening.
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” early Friday, Biden campaign co-chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said the president was “absolutely” still in the race, even as a growing number of Democrats expressed unease about whether he could defeat Trump.
“The president is definitely in the race, he has said that repeatedly,” she said. “He is Donald Trump’s best opponent.”
But Reports It was also announced on Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris – a possible successor to Biden if he takes the unprecedented step of withdrawing from the race less than four months before Election Day – was scheduled to make phone calls with major Democratic donors this afternoon.
According to a pool report, Harris did not answer reporters’ questions during an appearance at an ice cream parlor in Washington on Friday.
And ten other congressional Democrats, including more senior members than before who had diverged from the president’s line, called on Friday for Biden to resign.
US Representative Sean Casten of Illinois wrote a commentary in the Chicago Tribune.
Representatives Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, Jesús “Chuy” Garcia of Illinois and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin wrote a joint open letter to Biden in which they published on social media.
The quartet represents significant voting groups in the House Democratic Caucus.
Veasey is the first member of the influential Congressional Black Caucus, one of Biden’s strongest Democratic supporters, to join the call for his resignation. He is also a member of the moderate New Democrat Coalition.
Pocan is co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Garcia is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
US Senator. Martin Heinrich from New Mexico and Reps. Greg Landsman of Ohio and Zoe Lofgren of California also released statements of their own. Betty McCollum of Minnesota told the Star Tribune that she wants Biden to step down and let Harris lead the ballot with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Representative Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky posted a statement about X.
The calls came a day after Senator Jon Tester, who is in a arduous re-election campaign in Montana, Statement to the Daily Montanan that Biden should withdraw.
Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, one of the few Democrats who called on Biden to resign two weeks ago, explained his view in an opinion piece on Friday.
Moulton wrote in the Boston Globe When he traveled to Normandy in June to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the president did not recognize him despite their ten-year relationship.
“Of course, that can happen as you get older, but as I watched the disastrous debate a few weeks ago, I had to admit that what I saw in Normandy was part of a deeper problem,” Moulton wrote. “It was a devastating realization, not because someone I care about had a rough night, but because everything depends on Biden’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November.”
