Joe Biden is facing renewed pressure to end his re-election bid, after a Democratic lawmaker called on him to drop out of the presidential race and state governors sought a White House meeting to discuss his candidacy.
Lloyd Doggett, a Democratic congressman from Texas, on Tuesday became the first lawmaker from the president’s party to publicly call for Biden to step aside, saying “too much is at stake to risk a [Donald] Trump victory” in November’s election.
“Recognising that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw,” Doggett said.
Jared Golden, a Democratic congressman from Maine, later published an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News, a local newspaper, saying he had no confidence in Biden’s ability to win in November.
“While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win,” Golden said.
The congressmen’s statements came as Democratic governors arranged to meet Biden on Wednesday, said two people familiar with the plans. The governors, a powerful group within the party, intended to discuss the president’s condition, according to CNN.
The moves reflected anxiety across the party about Biden’s age and fitness for office, which deepened after his performance in last week’s debate against Trump.
A New York dealmaker and donor said: “I think the momentum is building [to oust Biden]. I think part of it is also the Supreme Court decision yesterday, where Trump gets this immunity, and people are starting to get fearful. What happens if Trump wins? It’s a disaster.”
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients was set to hold an all-staff call for employees on Wednesday, said one Democratic operative close to the White House.
Biden addressed some of the angst in his party about his debate performance, telling an audience at a fundraiser on Tuesday that he was “not very smart” for “travelling around the world a couple times” before the event with Trump. “I didn’t listen to my staff . . . and then I almost fell asleep on stage.”
While the president travelled to France for the D-Day commemorations and Italy for the G7 leaders meeting earlier in June, he spent the full week leading up to last Thursday’s debate behind closed doors preparing for it at Camp David.
Polling published on Tuesday showed Biden’s approval rating among voters had plunged to an all-time low after the debate. The survey from CNN also showed Biden’s vice-president, Kamala Harris, would fare better than him in a hypothetical match-up with Trump.
Among the two dozen Democratic governors who could attend Wednesday’s meeting, Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have been floated as possible contenders to replace Biden if he drops out. Illinois governor JB Pritzker, a co-chair of Biden’s re-election campaign and another possible replacement, will attend the meeting, according to a person familiar.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday said Biden would also meet congressional leadership in the coming days and that he would hold a rare press conference at the Nato summit next week.
The additions to the president’s schedule come as Democrats clamour for the Biden team to make the president available to the public through press conferences and other unscripted events to try to allay concerns about his acuity.
While Doggett is the only lawmaker to publicly call for Biden to exit the race, his statement echoed private comments from other Democratic lawmakers and operatives after the debate.
Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic Speaker of the House, acknowledged in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday that it was “legitimate” to question the president’s condition.
Jim Clyburn, one of Biden’s most ardent supporters in Congress, said he still backed Biden as the party’s presidential candidate but appeared to contemplate a change at the top, saying he would support Harris “if he were to step aside”.
Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, on Monday also expressed concerns about the president’s fitness.
“People want to make sure that . . . the president and his team are being candid with us about his condition, that this was a real anomaly and not just the way he is these days,” Whitehouse told a local television station.
Jean-Pierre said the White House team “understand the concerns” and acknowledged the president “did not have a great night” on the debate stage, but pointed to his record.
“He knows how to do the job . . . his record proves it,” she said.
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The CNN poll, conducted after Thursday’s debate, showed three-quarters of voters, and more than half of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic, said the party would have a better shot at the presidency with a new candidate.
The same poll showed Trump leading Biden by a six-point margin, 49-43, among registered voters nationwide. The president’s approval rating fell to a new low of 36 per cent among all Americans.
Additional reporting by Demetri Sevastopulo, Steff Chávez and Alex Rogers in Washington and James Fontanella-Khan in New York
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