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More Democratic House lawmakers are getting ready to call on President Biden to withdraw from his 2024 reelection bid if he continues to look shaky in the coming days.
Twenty-five House Democrats are prepared to make the move, an aide told Reuters, if the 81-year-old president’s mental decline as displayed in last week’s debate continues.
The Biden campaign has struggled to reassure voters, party donors, and lawmakers that he can lead the country since he fumbled through the CNN-sponsored debate against former President Donald Trump in Atlanta, stunning viewers with some barely lucid responses.
A new CNN poll released Tuesday showed that an overwhelming 75% of registered voters say the Democratic Party has a better chance of beating Mr. Trump with someone other than Mr. Biden on the ticket. That includes 56% of Democratic voters who want another nominee atop the ticket.
Two sitting Democratic lawmakers, Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Jared Golden of Maine, are the first two members of their caucus to publicly call on Mr. Biden to drop out of the race.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, a first-term lawmaker, told KATU during an interview Tuesday that she believes Mr. Biden will lose but stopped short of calling on him to step aside from the race.
SEE ALSO: The dam breaks: Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett calls on Biden to withdraw
Mr. Biden initially had the strong support of Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said immediately following the debate, “Joe Biden’s decision to go forward is a decision that we will all embrace because of the record he has and the performance that will come with it.”
However, her support became more tepid on Tuesday during an interview on MSNBC when she said it was legitimate to ask whether his debate performance was a one-time event.
“I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ’Is this an episode, or is this a condition?’ And so when people ask that question, it’s legitimate, of both candidates,” she said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday said Mr. Biden did not have an “episode” but had a bad night.
Mr. Biden addressed his debate performance at a private fundraiser in Virginia on Tuesday evening and blamed it on the amount of international traveling he did in June.
He said this despite being in the U.S. for nearly two weeks ahead of the debate and earlier claims by his aides and Democrats during the debate that he had a cold.
SEE ALSO: Shifting claims: Biden blames bad debate performance on international travel
“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times,” Mr. Biden said at a campaign fundraiser in McLean, Virginia. “I wasn’t very smart.”
Mr. Biden said he ignored the advice of his staff, who suggested that he should not have participated in the debate, though he did not say why they opposed it.
“I didn’t listen to my staff,” adding that he “came back and nearly fell asleep on stage.”
Mr. Biden is expected to address his party’s concerns this week when he speaks to Democratic governors on Wednesday afternoon and to other lawmakers throughout the week.
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