A pair of House Democrats — Reps. Ed Case and Greg Stanton — became the latest lawmakers to call for President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid.
“For the sake of American democracy, and to continue to make progress on our shared priorities, I believe it is time for the President to step aside as our nominee,” Stanton (D-Ariz.) said in a statement.
“I do not believe President Biden should continue his candidacy for re-election as President,” Case (D-Hawaii) said in his own statement.
The two lawmakers are the newest of more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers to push for Biden to step aside, with likely more to come. A Thursday closed-door meeting with the president’s aides left skeptical senators unmoved, and as POLITICO first reported, at least half a dozen other lawmakers are preparing to publicly break with Biden if his highly anticipated solo press conference Thursday night goes poorly.
Two other Democrats came close to calling for Biden to step off the ticket and raised more questions about his fitness for office.
Trump-district Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) said in a statement she doubted the president’s “judgment” about his health, fitness for office and own ability to govern.
“Americans deserve to feel their president is fit enough to do the job. The crisis of confidence in the President’s leadership needs to come to an end. The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first,” she said in a statement.
And Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) said on WPRI his voters “have deep and unanswered doubts” about Biden’s ability to win the election and to serve another four years in office.
