Warner organizing Senate Democrats to ask Biden to leave presidential race: reports

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is working to organize a group of Democratic senators to ask President Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Warner, chair of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, has reportedly been raising concerns that Biden cannot effectively run against former President Donald Trump following Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week.

A Warner spokesperson did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment on Friday afternoon. NBC, Axios and other outlets also confirmed the effort.

Senators are considering pursuing a meeting at the White House with Biden to discuss their concerns in person, according to the Post, while others are waiting to see Biden’s interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, which aired on Friday night.

When asked about Warner’s desire to have him step aside, Biden told reporters Friday, “He’s the only one.”

Many Democrats have privately shared concerns about their presidential candidate in the wake of the debate, in which Biden repeatedly stumbled in his answers to questions. Still, only a handful of lawmakers have publicly called for him to step aside, and only a few senators have spoken out about the issue at all. The Senate has been out of session with senators away from Washington for two weeks.

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Others have remained public backers of the president, who says he does not plan to step aside.

“We said we will stand with him,” said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore following a meeting between several Democratic governors and the president at the White House this week. “The president has always had our backs, we’re going to have his back as well.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, Warner’s fellow Democratic Senator from Virginia, also expressed support for Biden during a roundtable discussion at Market Street Coffee in Petersburg, his first campaign stop of the “Salute to Service” tour on Monday.

“The bottom line is, Joe Biden is our president. He’s a patriotic American. He’s done a good job. He puts others first, not himself,” he said.

The fallout from the debate has made for a remarkable turn in an already historic presidential race that pits two presidents against one another: the oldest president in American history and the first former president to be convicted of a felony.

Senate Democrats, in particular, have much at stake at the top of the ticket: They are on defense this year, defending multiple vulnerable incumbents who are already tasked with outperforming the president. Any additional perceived weaknesses could make that even more challenging.

However, many lawmakers are planning to wait until they see robust polling indicating how voters feel about the president following the debate.

A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released earlier this week indicates voters slightly prefer Trump to Biden 41% to 38%, a shift from a May poll that showed them tied at 37% to 37%.

Elizabeth Beyer contributed.