WASHINGTON — Eight congressional Democrats on Friday joined a growing chorus of lawmakers calling for President Joe Biden to step aside as the party’s nominee. Total number of Hill Democrats At the top of 30 tickets, who wants another one.
The new defections include two close allies of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as well as a third senator.
Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, who is running for re-election this fall, has become the third Senate Democrat to call on Biden to drop out, joining Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont and embattled Sen. John Tester. -An election proposal in Montana.
Recent Biden controversies in the House come from some of the president’s core supporters. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, became the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to campaign with Biden in Nevada this week, whose leaders called on Biden to bow out.
Veasey and three other House Democrats — Reps. Jared Huffman of California, Chuy Garcia of Illinois and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin — issued a joint statement Friday praising Biden’s decades of public service, but said now the 82-year-old president’s time has come. “Passing the torch” to give Democrats the best chance to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.
Garcia is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose chairwoman Rep. Nanette Barragan of California campaigned with Biden in Nevada this week, and her An affiliated super PAC endorsed Biden on Friday. Other Hispanic Caucus members who have previously called for Biden to step aside are Reps. Raul Grijalva from Arizona and Mike Levin of California.
Meanwhile, Pocan is the former co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, formerly chair of the LGBTQ+ Caucus, and the most high-profile members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y. – they urged the Democrats not to throw out Biden.
Huffman is also a progressive who is a close ally of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and represents the San Francisco Bay Area alongside her.
Pelosi’s other close Bay Area ally, longtime Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., also joined the group of detractors on Friday. leave the letter which he sent to Biden on Thursday night. In it, Lofgren spoke about his work in the House of Representatives’ January 6 Committee and warned that Trump “remains a serious threat to the constitutional order and the rule of law when he rises on January 6, 2021.”
Veasey, Garcia, Pocan and Huffman wrote in a joint statement: “We must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing a winning campaign. After last month’s debate and now, that is unlikely to change.”
“We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do at this time is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House. The Democrats have a deep and talented cadre of young leaders that you have raised, empowered and prepared for this moment, led by Vice President Kamala Harris,” the quartet continued. “The passing of the torch will fundamentally change the trajectory of the campaign. will cheer up and speed up.
Separately, Representative Sean Casten of Illinois In an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune published Friday, he called on Biden to quit. “As long as this election … is about which candidate bears more responsibility for public bullshit and ‘big points,’ I believe Biden will not only lose, but he will be unable to change that conversation.” ” he wrote.
Ohio Democrat Greg Landsman, one of Republicans’ top targets in 2024, said in a lengthy speech. ip in x “There’s a lot on the line” for Biden to continue as the Democratic nominee in 2024.
The new defections group means that more than 10% of House and Senate Democrats — 30 out of 264 — are calling for Biden to drop out of the race.
However, Biden has repeatedly said he’s not going anywhere and won the nomination, backed by 14 million Democratic primary voters.
Visible MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” On Friday, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager, acknowledged that it had been a “tough few weeks” for Biden since his disastrous debate performance and that there had been “some slippage in support.” But he argued that Biden still has a way to go to defeat Trump and will go on the campaign trail next week after recovering from Covid.
“You have heard directly from the president many times. He is in this race to win and he is our candidate and will be our president for a second term,” he said.
Julia Jester contributed.