Democrats meeting over the weekend to face growing anxiety over President Joe Biden’s re-election chances added more to the ranks of those calling for him to step aside.
After a private call with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday, four top Democrats called for Biden to end his reelection bid, according to multiple reports.
Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Joe Morelle (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA), and Mark Takano (D-CA) were reportedly looking for the feeble 81-year-old to remove himself from the running, allowing another Democrat to be named the nominee, according to Politico, the New York Times and others.
(Video Credit: CBS News Minnesota)
The lawmakers joined five other House Democrats who have expressed their concerns about Biden’s reelection prospects in statements.
“Smith is the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Similar positions are held by Nadler on the Judiciary Committee, Takano on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Morelle on the House Administration Committee,” NBC News noted.
“A number of lawmakers on the call stopped short of calling for a new nominee but expressed significant concerns about Democrats’ chances in November with Biden atop the ticket. Among them were Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Don Beyer of Virginia, and Jim Himes of Connecticut,” the outlet reported, noting that “Even those who did not explicitly call on Biden to bow out expressed concerns that he is not the strongest candidate to beat former President Donald Trump in November.”
Raskin denied saying anything about Biden stepping aside, telling NBC News that he “never said that.”
“When asked whether he said on the call that Biden could not win against Trump in November, Raskin said, ‘I never said that, and I don’t believe that,'” the outlet reported.
“President Biden is a good man & I appreciate his lifetime of service,” Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) wrote on X. “But I believe he should step aside for the next generation of leadership.”
Biden was “forcefully” defended on the call by Reps. Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, both D-CA., while Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) had strong words for colleagues calling on Biden to quit.
“Any ‘leader’ calling for President Biden to drop out needs to get their priorities straight and stop undermining this incredible actual leader who has delivered real results for our country,” Wilson said in a statement.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the president should be thinking about “whether he made the right decision to run or to pass the torch. That is the most important decision for him to make right now.”
The president spoke to a friendly audience at Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ while in Philadelphia on Sunday morning. saying “the Lord Almighty” is the only one who would be able to talk him into stepping aside.
“You’ve never given up in my life. And as your president, I’ve tried to walk my faith,” he told the mostly-black congregation.
“You know, invoking God Almighty as the only intervention that is going to dissuade him from going forward, I hope Joe Biden didn’t really mean that,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) told CNN. “Look, this is a very human process, not a divine process. While we all hope for the blessings of God, politics is a very human business and we have to make some very hard decisions going forward. And so does he.”
Biden has repeated his determination to stay in the race since his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump ignited calls for him to step off the Democrat ticket.
“I’m not letting one 90-minute debate wipe out three and a half years of work. I’m staying in the race, and I will beat Donald Trump,” Biden declared last week in Wisconsin.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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