Topline
Four House Democrats have urged President Joe Biden to end his 2024 presidential bid since his closely watched press conference Thursday night, bringing the total number of congressional defectors to 20—joining a growing list of politicians, pundits, billionaire donors and pro-Biden celebrities pushing the president to drop out.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump participate in the first presidential debate ... [+]
Key Facts
Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., on Friday became the 20th Republican in Congress to call on Biden to drop his bid, what she called a “painful” decision in a statement calling on Biden to “pass the torch,” adding that she has “deep admiration and love for Joe Biden.”
Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn., Scott Peters, D-Calif., and Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., pushed Biden to end his campaign Thursday evening, issuing statements right after Biden ended a high-stakes press conference wrapping up a NATO summit, that was widely viewed as an attempt to stop the Democratic defections.
Reps. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., and Ed Case, D-Hawaii, were the 15th and 16th Democrats to call on Biden to step down, with Stanton saying Thursday Democrats must “have a nominee who can effectively make the case against (former President Donald) Trump” and who Americans believe can “handle the rigors of the hardest job on the planet for the next four years.”
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., called on Biden Thursday to “pass the torch to a new generation of leadership,” joining similar calls this week from Reps. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said “Biden should withdraw for the good of the country,” in a Washington Post op-ed, making him the first senator to call for Biden’s departure from the race.
Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., Mark Takano, D-Calif., and Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., all privately said Biden should withdraw from the race at a discussion of Democratic lawmakers Sunday, The New York Times and NBC News reported, with Smith later going public (Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., was initially on the list but later walked back his push for Biden to drop out).
Reps. Angie Craig, D-Minn., Mike Quigley, D-Ill., Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., all called on Biden to stand down last week.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas: Doggett was the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to push for Biden to step aside after the debate, explaining he “had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum,” but Biden instead “failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”
Julian Castro: The Obama-era secretary of housing and urban development and early 2020 Democratic primary candidate argued Biden should “absolutely” take himself out of the race, saying Vice President Kamala Harris should take over on the Democratic ticket.
Former Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio: Biden’s former opponent for the 2020 nomination said he believes Harris is the party’s “best path forward” in a Newsweek op-ed, calling Harris an opportunity for “generational change.”
Wealthy donors: Mark Pincus—who’s worth $1.4 billion and has reportedly donated more than $1 million to support Biden and the Democrats since December—is the latest billionaire Biden supporter to urge Biden to step aside, including Christy Walton, Michael Novogratz and Reed Hastings, while Mark Cuban has said Democrats should assess whether another person can step in as the nominee.
Several A-list celebrities have stepped up to criticize the president for staying in the race, including Biden fundraiser George Clooney, who penned an op-ed in the New York Times Wednesday imploring Biden to “save democracy” and step away from the race, actor Rob Reiner, author Stephen King, heiress Abigail Disney and political comedian Jon Stewart, who on Thursday accused Biden of "becoming Trumpian" by refusing to back out.
The New York Times Editorial Board: “To serve his country, President Biden should leave the race” the left-leaning panel declared in a headline the day after the debate, followed by similar calls from the editorial boards of The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Boston Globe.
New York Times Columnists: A litany of left-of-center Times opinion writers have urged Biden to step aside, including Biden’s self-described friend Thomas Friedman, Nicholas Kristof, Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman (who called Biden “the best president of my adult life”).
Other Writers: Calls for Biden to drop out came from names like New Yorker editor David Remnick (who said remaining in the race “would be an act not only of self-delusion but of national endangerment”), Washington Post columnist David Ignatius (who said Biden’s inner circle has been “protective—to a fault) and Atlantic staff writer Mark Leibovich.
Joe Scarborough: Declaring that he “love[s]” Biden, the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” (a program Biden reportedly follows closely) gently suggested the morning after the debate that the president should bow out of the race, asking the rhetorical question “if he were CEO, and he turned in a performance like that, would any corporation in America keep him on?”
Chandler West: Former White House director of photography from January 2021 through May 2022, West wrote on Instagram that “it’s time for Joe to go,” Axios reported, citing screenshots of West’s story in which he said White House operatives have said privately for months that Biden is “not as strong as he was just a couple of years ago,” and a subsequent text message from West to Axios predicting that the debate is “not gonna be the last” bad day for Biden.
James Carville: Biden “shouldn’t be” the nominee, the longtime Democratic political consultant told Politico, after saying the Biden campaign used his name in a post-debate fundraising text without his permission, and also told Axios he thinks Biden will end his campaign before Election Day, paraphrasing a quote by economist Herb Stein, “that which can’t continue . . . won’t.”
Andrew Yang: Biden’s former 2020 opponent for the Democratic nomination wrote in his blog that he was “wrong” for having confidence Biden’s team could prepare him for the debate, describing Biden as “old and shuffling” when he saw him in February, while writing that Biden is “running an unwinnable race” and “doing wrong by the country” for continuing his candidacy.
News Peg
Biden held his first press conference since the debate on Thursday, what was widely viewed as an improvement from his June 27 performance, though not without some missteps, including calling Harris “Vice President Trump” in his very first answer. Just before the press conference, while introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the close of the NATO summit in Washington, he referred to him as “President Putin,” before quickly correcting himself.
What To Watch For
Biden will sit for an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday.
What We Don’t Know
What House Democratic leadership will do—though the party’s top leaders in Congress have remained publicly supportive of Biden. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Punchbowl News Thursday he is working through talks with “every single” House Democrat about the president and, once that has concluded, they will “convene as a leadership team and figure out the next step.”
Contra
Biden has rebuffed the calls to step aside in the race, telling congressional Democrats in a letter Monday “it’s time for [discussions about his debate performance] to end.”
Tangent
Some Democrats have expressed careful skepticism about Biden’s future in the race, but have stopped short of calling on him to step aside. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., predicted Tuesday on CNN Trump “is on track . . . to win this election, and maybe win it by a landslide,” adding that “the White House, in the time since that disastrous debate . . . has done nothing to really demonstrate they have a plan to win this election.” Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on MSNBC in the days following the debate “I think it’s a legitimate question to say this is an episode or this is a condition,” referring to Biden’s cognitive abilities. She said Wednesday on the network that “time is running out” for Biden to decide if he’ll stay in the race—an odd statement that suggests he might still drop his bid despite his repeated insistence he’ll keep running. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., a former member of the party’s leadership, said he’d like Biden to remain the nominee but argued Harris should replace him if Biden stands down. Clyburn on Friday left open the possibility Biden could still bow out, telling NBC “no matter what direction he goes . . . I’m with Joe Biden,” adding that “if he were to change his mind . . . I would be all in for the vice president.”
Key Background
The presidential debate last month was considered the most important night of the 2024 campaign cycle—and an opportunity for Biden to reassure voters concerned that he is too old to run for president. But Biden was widely viewed to have done the opposite, losing his train of thought within minutes of the debate beginning, speaking so softly at times it was hard to understand what he was saying, giving disjointed answers and often standing with a blank stare on his face, his mouth agape, while Trump was speaking. Abysmal reviews, even from some of Trump’s fiercest critics, instantly poured in on social media, and by the end of the debate, Democrats were reportedly privately discussing the possibility of replacing him on the ticket, multiple outlets reported.
Surprising Fact
There is no formal mechanism for replacing Biden as the nominee if he doesn’t step aside voluntarily. He has won nearly 3,900 of the 4,000 available delegates in the primaries who are beholden (but not legally required) to vote to formally nominate Biden at the Democratic convention in August. In an unprecedented and highly unlikely scenario, the delegates could spurn Biden and vote to select another nominee. Or Biden could withdraw from the race before the convention, giving his delegates the opportunity to cast their votes for another candidate. If he were to withdraw after the August convention, party rules state that the Democratic National Committee’s approximately 500 members could convene a special meeting to select a new nominee by majority vote. Harris would be the most obvious choice for a replacement, but Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are other names commonly floated by pundits and the press. Both have defended him publicly following the debate.
Further Reading
Can Democrats Replace Biden? Here’s What Would Happen If Biden Leaves 2024 Race. (Forbes)
Biden Loses Train Of Thought And Corrects Himself Repeatedly In Debate With Trump (Forbes)
