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A number of Democrats, including two US senators, have called on Joe Biden to withdraw from this year’s presidential election, putting his reelection campaign in deep jeopardy.
Veteran Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is in a fierce re-election race, released a statement Friday night saying, “I believe the president should end his campaign.”
Brown became the fourth senator to call on Biden to resign, and the latest in a string of Democrats who called on the president to abandon his reelection campaign on Friday.
Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico also urged Biden to withdraw on Friday, while Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Peter Welch of Vermont have also publicly called on Biden to abandon his presidential bid.
“This moment in our nation’s history requires a larger focus than any one person,” Henrick said, adding that it was in the “best interest of our country” for the president to end his campaign.
Nearly a dozen House members also said Friday that Biden should resign.
In a joint statement, four U.S. representatives — Jared Huffman, Mark Pocan, Chuy Garcia and Mark Veasey — said it was time for the 81-year-old president to “pass the baton to a new generation of Democratic leadership.”
“You must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and health are jeopardizing a campaign you should win,” the politicos added. House Democrats Shawn Kasten, Greg Landsman, Zoe Lofgren, Kathy Kastle, Betty McCollum, Morgan McGarvey and Gabe Vásquez also called on Biden to withdraw.
“The Biden administration has been working to improve the situation,” Biden said in a statement Friday.[ed] I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week and continuing to expose the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 plan.”
The president has been isolating at his Delaware resort since testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. White House physician Kevin O’Connor said Friday that Biden’s condition has “significantly improved” and that he will continue to take the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
The new wave of lawmakers calling for Biden to resign comes as Democratic Party heavyweights such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and major donors who are vital financial backers of Biden’s election campaign are pressuring him behind the scenes.
The Financial Times reported Thursday that donors and party officials believe Biden is very close to deciding to drop out of the race.
On Friday, venture capitalist and Democratic megadonor Michael Moritz called on Biden to step down, saying the president has a choice between “vanity and virtue,” comments first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by Moritz.
He added that Biden’s attempt to retain a second term risks damaging the country, but did not say who he would support to replace him.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons, a Biden aide, said Friday that the president is receiving the advice he needs to make a decision about his political future.
“I’m confident that he’s hearing what he needs to hear,” he said on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum.
But Coons, who insisted Biden was “strong” and “capable” enough to remain president, acknowledged anxiety within the Democratic Party, saying there was “a lot of concern and anxiety because the stakes are so high.”
The latest intervention came the day after Trump formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination and less than a week after he narrowly escaped assassination in Pennsylvania.
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The former president has surged Biden in the polls despite his recent conviction, building leads in key battleground states that will determine November’s vote.
More than 30 lawmakers have said so far that Biden should not seek reelection, and there are many others who privately share the same sentiment but have not yet gone public.
But some worry there is a risk of new divisions within the party.
But some Democrats, including many progressives, have supported Trump. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a fierce defense of Trump in an Instagram Live broadcast early Friday, accusing “donors” and “elites” of trying to oust him and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden’s disastrous performance in a debate with Trump last month sparked panic within Democrats over his age and fitness to be president. After testing positive for COVID-19 in Nevada, Biden was seen struggling to climb the steps of Air Force One to fly home.
