Washington
CNN
—
Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas on Tuesday became the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to call on President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race, a significant moment for the Democratic Party as Doggett said publicly what many elected officials had privately speculated.
“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to step down,” Doggett said in his statement. “President Biden should do the same.”
Doggett’s statement adds to the pressure on the president and his team as they try to assuage party concerns following Biden’s disappointing debate performance against former President Donald Trump last week, and Doggett’s comments could encourage others to follow suit.
In calling on Biden to step down, Doggett said the president could help usher in a new generation of leaders to help the party achieve its ultimate goal: defeating Trump.
“Knowing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not to himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to step down,” Doggett said. “I respectfully call on him to do so.”
Asked later Tuesday by CNN’s Anderson Cooper whether it was difficult for him to be the first member of Congress to ask the president to withdraw from the race, Doggett said: “In retrospect, I wish I had said it sooner because I think we needed to — it needed to be a decision that was made much earlier in the process.”
The 77-year-old told “AC360” that “being an older member of Congress” and not a “particularly vulnerable member of Congress” gives him the ability to say what some other members who share his views may not be able to say.
He said he hoped some of those members “would call the White House and express their personal concerns if they couldn’t reach me publicly, and that people across the country would let their members of Congress and the Senate know, just as my constituents have, what they think about this situation.”
Earlier Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois signaled he was ready to replace Biden as the party’s presidential nominee.
“I think his four years as president are some of the most important of our lifetimes, but I think he has to be honest with himself,” Quigley told Kasie Hunt on “CNN This Morning.” “That’s a decision he’s going to have to make.”
“We have to be honest with ourselves: It was not only a horrible night, but I will not go beyond that out of respect and understanding for President Joe Biden, a very proud person who has served us extraordinarily well for 50 years,” he added.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a staunch Biden ally, said on MSNBC that the president should do more interviews for people to evaluate him.
“I think it’s essential that they do it,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday.
The former House speaker, who has stressed that it is up to Biden to decide whether to step down, said she has heard “mixed” responses to the debate from donors and others in her Democratic network.
“I think it’s a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition,” Pelosi said, though she added that the same question should be asked of Trump, citing his repeated lies during the debate.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a key Biden ally, said on MSNBC that he still supports Biden at the top of the ticket, but added that he would support Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden were to withdraw from the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I would support her if he were to step down,” Clyburn said when asked what he would do if Biden stepped down, later adding: “This party should not, under any circumstances, do anything to circumvent Miss Harris.”
However, Clyburn reaffirmed his support for Biden. “I want this ticket to remain Biden-Harris and then we’ll see what happens after the next election,” he said.
More Democrats have been voicing concerns behind the scenes.
While the Biden campaign and the White House have maintained that the president remains in the race and have attributed Biden’s debate performance to a poor night that does not overshadow his accomplishments, lawmakers from across the party have reached out to share concerns about Biden remaining at the top of the ticket.
A House Democrat told CNN: “There is a large and growing group of House Democrats who are concerned about the president’s candidacy, representing a broad swath of the caucus. We are deeply concerned about his trajectory and his ability to win. We want to give him the space to make a decision.” [to step aside] but we will increasingly voice our concerns if he does not.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Jack Forrest contributed to this report.
