Washington DC [US]: Nearly Democrats from the United States Congress have called on President Joe Biden to quit the 2024 Presidential race as per a report by US-based media outlet Politico.
Most of those who urged Biden to pull out are rank-and-file lawmakers even as the Democratic Party leadership continues to publicly back the president’s re-election.
The lawmakers calling for Biden to exit the race include top national security Democrats like Jim Hines and Adam Smith, the ranking members on the Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, respectively, Politico reported.
The majority of these hailed from “safe districts” in which the President won by healthy margins in 2020. Lloyd Doggett, a lawmaker from Texas, the first lawmaker to call for Biden to end his re-election bid, represents a ‘safe’ seat and has been in Congress for nearly three decades.
Doggett said on Thursday that Biden should make the “painful decision” to step aside “in favour of a stronger candidate.”
Seth Moulton, a lawmaker from Massachusetts said on Wednesday that Biden’s name on the Democratic ticket put the party on a “path to losing.”
Other representatives, like Eric Sorensen of Illinois, Pat Ryan of New York, Hillary Scholten of Michigan, and Mike Levin of California, are younger lawmakers and come from districts where Democrats have not had a stronghold. These districts may become tougher to win if Biden’s unpopularity persists–this fear has frazzled all Democrats, Politico reported.
Peter Welch of Vermont has publicly called for Biden to step out, though others have only raised questions about Biden contesting the elections.
A meeting was held on Thursday between the Democrat senators and top Biden advisers. Though the meeting did not reassure the lawmakers, but no lawmaker has called for him to back off since then, Politico reported.
Several other Democrats have voiced their support for Biden in the November elections. The divided lawmakers say that their ideological split only benefits Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate.