WASHINGTON — Four more Democrats in Congress called on President Joe Biden to step down to allow someone else to be the party’s nominee for president, according to multiple people on the call and familiar with the discussion.
Adam Smith of Washington, Jerry Nadler of New York, Mark Takano of California and Joe Morelle of New York all called on the President to step aside, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The discussion took place Sunday afternoon during a call led by House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Biden’s future as the leader of the party was heavily called into question, according to the sources.
The congressional Democrats said Vice President Kamala Harris would be a better nominee than Biden and that she would be the obvious choice to replace Biden should he exit the race.
After the call, Beyer reaffirmed his support for Biden in a statement.
“I support President Biden,” he said. “I support the Biden-Harris ticket, and look forward to helping defeat Donald Trump in November.”
The debate caused panic among some Democrats and lawmakers have now questioned Biden’s overall fitness to serve.
“First of all, I want to say we understand the concerns,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “We get it. The president did not have a great night, as you all know.”
“Well, what I can tell you is that he had a cold and a bad night. I would not see this as an episode,” Jean-Pierre responded. “I would see this as what it was and what we believe it to be, which is, it was a bad night. And he did, on top of that, he had a cold. And that is the reality of the situation.”
Prior to the debate, Biden was away from the public eye for six days, spending time at his vacation home in Delaware and preparing for the debate with his aides at Camp David.
