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President Joe Biden is facing growing calls to withdraw from the race after his disastrous performance at the debate.
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He will meet with Democratic governors on Wednesday to convince them he is competent.
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25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives are considering asking him to withdraw from the race, a Democratic adviser said.
President Joe Biden will meet with Democratic governors on Wednesday in an attempt to deflect growing concerns about his ability to defeat Donald Trump.
Biden will speak with governors on Wednesday in virtual meetings and in person at the White House, White House officials said, according to Reuters.
Since his disastrous performance at the June 27 debate, Biden has been under increasing pressure to withdraw from the race.
During the debate with former President Donald Trump, Biden’s performance was at times marked by blank facial expressions and incoherent sentences.
Biden’s campaign has offered a series of excuses, including jet lag, a bad night’s sleep and a cold before the event. But that hasn’t stopped calls for his resignation.
Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett on Tuesday became the first sitting Democratic congressman to publicly urge the president to withdraw from the race.
“The stakes are too high to risk a Trump victory — it’s too high a risk to assume that what couldn’t be turned around a year ago, what wasn’t turned around in the debate, can be turned around now,” Doggett said in a statement.
Former Democratic House members, party strategists and candidates have made similar calls, with some even urging Vice President Kamala Harris to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket.
Former Rep. Tim Ryan said in a social media post Tuesday that Harris should replace Biden.
He said Harris “has grown significantly in her work, she will destroy Trump in debates, emphasize the issue of choice, energize our base, bring back young voters and give us a generational change. It’s time!”
In a video message on Tuesday, Adam Frisch, a Democrat running for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, said: “We deserve better. President Biden should drop out of this race.”
James Carville, a veteran Democratic strategist, told CNN the party needs to do “something different.”
“Give the people a chance, show them who’s in the party. I believe there’s a tremendous amount of talent in the Democratic Party,” he said, adding: “Get out of the way and let a thousand flowers bloom.”
Meanwhile, an anonymous Democratic Party aide told Reuters that 25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives are preparing to urge Biden to withdraw from the race if he appears to be shaky in the coming days.
If Biden withdraws, several potential replacements could run.
However, it would be a challenge for the party to replace Biden at the top of the ticket just months before the November election.
President Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out of the race in 1968 and his Vice President, Hubert Humphrey, ran in the Democratic primaries but lost the election to former Vice President Richard Nixon.
ABC News said it will air Biden’s first televised interview since last Friday’s presidential debate at 6:30 p.m. ET on “World News Tonight with David Muir.”
Read the original article on Business Insider
