Sen. Joe Manchin Joins Major Surge Of Democrats Calling On Biden To Quit
KEY FACTS
Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat-turned-independent who still caucuses with the party, on Sunday told CNN it was "time to pass the torch to a new generation" after telling ABC News he was "concerned about the president’s health and well-being."
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., on Saturday argued Biden should “pass the torch” to Vice President Kamala Harris and suggested Harris could “seamlessly transition into the role of our party’s standard bearer.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, whose third re-election bid in November is considered crucial to Democrats’ efforts to hold onto a Senate majority, called on Biden to step down on Friday.
Brown joins two other Democrats who spoke out about Biden as they run for re-election this year: Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who is one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats (the first senator to call on Biden to stand down was Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.).
Eleven House Democrats called on Biden to step down Friday: Reps. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Marc Veasey, D-Texas, Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., and Mark Pocan, D-Wisc., in a joint statement; Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill.; Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.; Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio; Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla.; Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky.; and Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., who explicitly called for Harris to replace Biden and choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., called on Biden to drop out on Thursday, and on Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., became the most high-profile House member to publicly call on Biden to drop out, telling the Los Angeles Times he has “serious concerns” Biden can’t beat former President Donald Trump.
Reps. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., and Mike Levin, D-Calif., both publicly called on Biden to drop his bid on July 12, with both praising Biden’s years of public service but saying it was time for Biden to stand down.
Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn., Scott Peters, D-Calif., and Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., pushed Biden to end his campaign on July 11, issuing statements right after Biden ended a high-stakes press conference wrapping up a NATO summit, that was widely viewed as a key opportunity to stop the Democratic defections.
A litany of other House Democrats have publicly urged Biden to stand down: Reps. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., Adam Smith, D-Wash., Ed Case, D-Hawaii, Brad Schneider, D-Ill., Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J.
Reps. Angie Craig, D-Minn., Mike Quigley, D-Ill., Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., have also called on Biden to stand down.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, was the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to push for Biden to step aside after the debate, explaining he “had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum,” but Biden instead “failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”
The Local 3000 chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers urged Biden to step down Friday, citing the “immediate risk” a second Trump presidency would pose for workers, The New York Times reported, noting the UFCW 3000 appears to be the first major union to stray from Biden, though it backed the campaign for Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in primaries in protest of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
WHICH CELEBRITIES HAVE CALLED FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT?
Several A-list celebrities have stepped up to criticize the president for staying in the race, including Biden fundraiser George Clooney, who penned an op-ed in the New York Times imploring Biden to “save democracy” and step away from the race. Other Hollywood figures include actor Rob Reiner, author Stephen King and heiress Abigail Disney.
WHAT WEALTHY DONORS HAVE CALLED FOR BIDEN’S WITHDRAWAL?
Billionaire Mark Pincus—who has reportedly donated more than $1 million to support Biden and the Democrats since December—is the latest well-heeled Biden supporter to urge Biden to step aside, including billionaires Christy Walton, Michael Novogratz and Reed Hastings. Mark Cuban has said Democrats should assess whether another person can step in as the nominee.
WHICH MEDIA FIGURES AND OUTLETS HAVE URGED BIDEN TO DROP OUT?
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough (whose show Biden follows closely) gently suggested the morning after the debate the president should bow out of the race—though Biden later appeared on the show for a defiant phone interview. Meanwhile, The New York Times’ Editorial Board pushed Biden to leave the race the day after the debate, followed by similar calls from the editorial boards of The Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Boston Globe. A litany of left-of-center Times opinion writers have urged Biden to step aside in recent weeks, including Biden’s self-described friend Thomas Friedman, Nicholas Kristof, Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman (who called Biden “the best president of my adult life”). Other calls to drop out came from New Yorker editor David Remnick (who said remaining in the race “would be an act not only of self-delusion but of national endangerment”), Washington Post columnist David Ignatius and Atlantic staff writer Mark Leibovich.
WHICH POLITICAL STAFFERS WANT BIDEN TO DROP OUT?
Former Obama advisor and CNN analyst David Axelrod called Biden’s insistence on staying in the race a “defiant delusion,” after more gently wondering if Biden should run for reelection late last year. A group of Obama aides who host the popular podcast Pod Save America—helmed by Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, among others—have questioned whether Biden should stay in the race (reigniting tensions between the Biden and Obama camps). Longtime Democratic consultant James Carville says Biden “shouldn’t be” the nominee, he told Politico. And Chandler West, a Biden-era former White House deputy director of photography, wrote on Instagram “it’s time for Joe to go,” Axios reported, adding White House operatives have said privately for months that Biden is “not as strong as he was just a couple of years ago.”
WHICH FORMER DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS WANT BIDEN OUT?
Julian Castro, the Obama-era secretary of housing and urban development and early 2020 Democratic primary candidate, argued Biden should “absolutely” take himself out of the race. Former Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, another former Biden 2020 opponent, said he believes Harris is the party’s “best path forward” in a Newsweek op-ed. And 2020 hopeful Andrew Yang wrote in his blog Biden is “running an unwinnable race” and “doing wrong by the country” for continuing his candidacy.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
What congressional Democratic leadership will do. The party’s top leaders in Congress, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have remained publicly supportive of Biden, but are reportedly working behind the scenes to push him to drop his re-election bid, multiple outlets reported this week.
CONTRA
Biden has rebuffed the calls to step aside in the race, telling congressional Democrats in a letter earlier this month “it’s time for [discussions about his debate performance] to end.” Biden has blamed his poor debate performance on a cold, his travel schedule and Trump’s “lies,” and has repeatedly insisted simply had one “bad night,” but is fit to continue serving. Biden in recent days, however, has become receptive to the idea that he might need to bow out of the race, multiple outlets reported, with unnamed top Democrats reportedly telling Axios they expect Biden to drop out as soon as this weekend. Biden disputed those rumors Friday in a statement, announcing he would be back on the campaign trail next week after isolating in Delaware following his Wednesday COVID-19 diagnosis.
TANGENT
Other Democrats have questioned Biden’s abilities without explicitly saying he should drop out. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., suggested in a July 8 letter to Biden made public Thursday by The New York Times that Biden should re-consider his bid, comparing him to a tired baseball pitcher, but stopped short of telling Biden to drop out. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., predicted earlier this month on CNN Donald Trump “is on track . . . to win this election, and maybe win it by a landslide,” adding that “the White House, in the time since that disastrous debate . . . has done nothing to really demonstrate they have a plan to win this election.” Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., tweeted last week “the narrative that the President simply had one bad debate performance reflects a continuing pattern of denial and self-delusion.
KEY BACKGROUND
Calls for Biden to drop out of the race began in the wake of his rocky debate performance against Trump last month, as he spoke softly, gave disjointed answers and often stood with a blank stare on his face and his mouth agape while Trump was speaking. The calls have grown louder over the past three weeks as his efforts to undo the damage from his debate performance are widely viewed to have fallen short—and have featured additional gaffes during high-profile public appearances, including misnaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” and Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump.”
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