WASHINGTON — Representative Lloyd DoggettD-Texas, became the first sitting Democrat in Congress to call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, citing his poor performance in debates and the fact that Biden has been “trailing Donald Trump” in polls all year.
“Our primary consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang. The stakes are too high to risk a Trump victory — too high to assume that what couldn’t be turned around in a year, what wasn’t turned around in the debate, can be turned around now,” Doggett said in a statement Tuesday. “President Biden saved our democracy by getting rid of Trump in 2020. He must not hand us over to Trump in 2024.”
While numerous Democrats have privately expressed concerns or anonymously suggested that Biden drop out of the race, Doggett, who is 77, is the first lawmaker to say so publicly. He represents a blue district in Austin, Texas, and has served in Congress since 1995.
“I represent the heart of a congressional district that was once represented by Lyndon Johnson,” Doggett continued. “Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same.”
“I hope he makes the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully urge him to do so,” he said.
It’s unclear whether — or how many — Democratic lawmakers will follow suit, as the president and his team insist he will stay in the race and be the party’s nominee in 2024. A Biden campaign aide said the president is “staying,” noting that other Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have issued letters of support for Biden.
Doggett stressed that he believes Biden “has accomplished much for our country, both at home and abroad” as president, but added: “While much of his work has been transformative, he promised this will be a transitional one. He has an opportunity to foster a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process.”
“President Biden continues to trail Democratic senators significantly in key states and is trailing Donald Trump in most polls. I had hoped the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It didn’t. Instead of reassuring voters, the president failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said.
He argued that the Supreme Court’s immunity decision makes the task of defeating Trump even more urgent. “This week, as the Supreme Court has created ‘a lawless zone around the president,’ Trump, who has only now been granted immunity, could lead America into a long, dark, authoritarian era unchecked by the courts or a submissive Republican Congress,” Doggett said.
Following Doggett’s call, Democratic candidate Adam Frisch, who is running in Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, also called on Biden to resign, saying that neither he nor Trump should run for president.
“We deserve better. President Biden should do what’s best for the country and withdraw from the race,” said Frisch, who lost by a razor-thin margin in 2022 to Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
Julián Castro, a former Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Obama-Biden administration who ran against Biden as a candidate in 2020, joined the calls on MSNBC, saying there is “a group of Democrats” who would be more effective against Trump, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
“He’s not the campaigner he was in 2020,” Castro said. “I believe there are stronger options for Democrats.”
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, one of five Democrats in the House representing a Trump district, published an op-ed in a local newspaper saying, “While I don’t plan on voting for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And that’s OK with me.”
He said democracy “will be fine” under Trump.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
