The fallout from Joe Biden’s terrible debate performance continues unabated. In the days following Biden’s infamous face-off with Donald Trump, many in the media have called on Biden to drop out of the race, and donors are starting to bail on him. Elected Democrats have generally been reluctant to speak out publicly but have privately expressed concern or anonymously told the media they think he should leave the ticket.
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The first Democrat to publicly call on Biden to drop out is Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.), a 15-term incumbent and the second-highest ranking Democrat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
“My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved,” Doggett said. “Recognizing 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. I respectfully call on him to do so.”
“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson,” Doggett continued. “Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same.”
Doggett may be the first elected Democrat to speak out, but he won’t be the last.
According to a report from Reuters, a House Democratic aide revealed that at least 25 House Democrats are preparing to publicly call on Biden to leave the race.
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“It looks like the dam has broken,” a second aide said.
According to the reports, “centrist” House Democrats in competitive districts, who are the most vulnerable in the upcoming elections, are contemplating drafting a letter to Biden.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) predicted that Trump would win the 2024 election in November and expressed that he was “OK with that.”
In an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News, Golden mentioned that Biden’s poor performance in last week’s debate against Trump was “not a surprise” to him.
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“It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that,” he wrote. “In 2025, I believe Trump is going to be in the White House. Maine’s representatives will need to work with him when it benefits Mainers, hold him accountable when it does not, and work independently across the aisle no matter what.”
The White House has leaned on the excuse that Biden had a cold to explain his terrible debate performance; however, Biden blamed the international travel he’d been doing weeks earlier.
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“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times… shortly before the debate,” Biden told donors. “It wasn’t very smart [to be] traveling around the world a couple [of] times.”
“I didn’t listen to my staff,” Biden added. “And then I almost fell asleep on stage.”
Democratic governors reportedly had a private conference about Biden earlier this week, and have demanded a meeting with Biden — which is expected to take place on Wednesday.