Joe Biden’s campaign has been thrust into a pressure cooker of doubt, as panic and worry about his election chances pour in from the highest levels of the Democratic party.
In recent days, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have all reportedly expressed concerns in private to Mr Biden about his candidacy.
Even his former running mate, former President Barack Obama, has reportedly said Mr Biden’s chances of winning the election have greatly diminished.
A 6 July letter from high-ranking congressman Jamie Raskin was made public on Thursday, where the Maryland representative compared the president to a baseball pitcher whose arm has “tired out”.
“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd,” Mr Raskin said.
Mr Biden, 81, has repeatedly and defiantly declared he is “not going anywhere”, urging his party to refocus on the task of defeating Donald Trump.
But the calls to exit are nearing a crescendo as Democratic politicians, donors and voters speak out against the president’s candidacy.
Who wants Biden to go?
It began five days after the June 27 debate with Lloyd Doggett, a15-term Texas congressman, who said that it was time for Mr Biden to “make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw”.
Mr Doggett, 77, who sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, said he respected “all that President Biden has achieved” but that the Democrat had failed to “effectively defend his many accomplishments” on the debate stage.
Less than two weeks later, the first US senator stepped forward to publicly ask Biden to drop out. Peter Welch, of Vermont, told the Washington Post: “We need him to put us first, as he has done before,” he said. “I urge him to do it now.”
Then 18 July, less than 24 hours after the White House announced that Biden contracted Covid-19, on 17 July, a second senator came forward. Jon Tester, from Montana, said: “I believe President Biden should not seek re-election to another term.”
The two senators and congressman Doggett are joined by a growing list of others from the House of Representatives:
- Arizona left-winger Raul Grijalva told The New York Times that the campaign was in a “precarious” state and Mr Biden had to now “shoulder the responsibility” of holding the White House.
- Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a 2020 presidential candidate, told WBUR that he no longer had confidence that Mr Biden could beat Trump.
- Mike Quigley, an Illinois congressman involved in planning the Democratic National Convention, made a direct plea to the president on MSNBC, saying that his “legacy is set” but it was time to “let someone else do this”.
- Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat representing a swing district, fretted over Mr Biden’s debate performance and his “lack of a forceful response” since then, and warned “there is only a small window left” to choose a replacement.
- Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said Mr Biden could no longer “clearly, articulately, and strongly make his case to the American people”.
- Centre-left New Jersey congresswoman Mikie Sherrill wrote that “the stakes are too high – and the threat is too real – to stay silent” because Democrats “cannot allow Trump to return to the White House”.
- Pat Ryan, from a vulnerable seat in the state of New York, urged Mr Biden “to deliver on an earlier promise to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders” and step aside “for the good of our country”.
- Long-time Oregon leftist Earl Blumenauer, who is retiring at the end of this term, said he hoped Mr Biden would end his bid because the 2024 race was “not just about extending his presidency but protecting democracy”.
- Hillary Scholten, from a Michigan swing district, told The Detroit News: “We just have too much at stake in this election to sit on the sidelines and be silent while we still have time to do something.”
- Another Illinois centrist, Brad Schneider, whose district hosts next month’s party convention, said Mr Biden should “heroically pass the torch to a new generation… to guide us to the future he has enabled”.
- Ed Case from Hawaii broke ranks with the rest of the state’s Congressional delegation and issued a statement that Biden should not continue his candidacy. “Difficult times and realities require difficult decisions,” he wrote, adding “my guidepost is what is the best way forward for our country”.
- Greg Stanton, who represents a district in the key swing state of Arizona, said that he believes it is time for Mr Biden to drop out of the race “for the sake of American democracy, and to continue make progress on our shared priorities”.
- Jim Himes, a Connecticut congressman since 2009, said on X (formerly Twitter) that Democrats must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront Trump and “I no longer believe that is Joe Biden”.
- California congressman Scott Peters has also made his position official. ”Today I ask President Biden to withdraw,” he said in a statement. “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.”
- Another Illinois congressman Eric Sorensen said, “I am hopeful President Biden will step aside in his campaign for President”, in a statement on X. “In 2020 Joe Biden ran for President with the purpose of putting country over party. Today, I am asking him to do that again,” he added.
- Washington state congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez suggested Mr Biden should step aside, saying: “I doubt the President’s judgement about his health, his fitness to do the job”.
- California congressman Mike Levin joined the chorus, saying: “I believe the time has come for President Biden to pass the torch”.
- Colorado congresswoman Brittany Pettersen called Mr Biden “a good man who has served this country faithfully and admirably”, but “my sons and my constituents can’t suffer the consequences of inaction at this critical moment”.
- California’s likely next Senator Adam Schiff, who developed a national profile as a top Trump critic, urged Mr Biden to “pass the torch” and “secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump”.
- California congressman Jim Costa was the fourth to use the phrase “pass the torch”, thanking Mr Biden while showing him the door.
Other prominent figures have also joined the growing chorus:
- New York Lt Gov Antonio Delgado, a former member of the House of Representatives, said Mr Biden “can add to his legacy, showing his strength and grace, by ending his campaign”.
- Ex-Ohio congressman Tim Ryan, former housing secretary Julian Castro and self-help guru Marianne Williamson – all former primary opponents of Mr Biden – have called on him to withdraw.
- George Clooney, the Hollywood actor and major party fundraiser, said in The New York Times that Mr Biden could not beat time. His article was titled: “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee.”
What are others saying?
Senior Democrats, including party leaders in Washington, have held their fire in public and straddled the fence on whether Mr Biden should continue his 2024 bid.
Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, had previously declined to directly answer whether she wanted him to keep running. She did so on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the president’s favourite news programme.
“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said, adding that “time is running short” for him to make that call.
CNN reported that since then, Mrs Pelosi had met with Mr Biden privately and told him that polls show he cannot win in November. She later slammed the reporting as a “feeding frenzy”, but did not deny that a conversation with Mr Biden had taken place.
Her replacement as House Democratic chief, Hakeem Jeffries, has said he is having “candid, comprehensive and clear-eyed” conversations with his members and that he will meet his leadership team to discuss next steps.
Mr Jeffries reportedly also met with Mr Biden in recent days and expressed concern.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has publicly said he is “for Joe” but, per Axios, is privately signalling to donors that he is open to replacing Mr Biden.
He, like Mr Jeffries, has met with the president in recent days and reportedly told the Mr Biden about his worries that his candidacy could negatively impact Democrats in other races.
Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has continued to defend Biden, telling MSNBC “we’ve got to stop the nitpicking”.
Many politicians have carefully parsed their words, expressing respect for the president’s accomplishments in office while noting that his poor polling and concerning public appearances raise significant questions.
Montana’s Jon Tester and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown are two of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election. While Mr Brown has largely dodged questions on the topic, Mr Tester says Mr Biden “has got to prove” that he is up to the job.
Colleagues have echoed those concerns. Patty Murray,of Washington state, said Mr Biden “must do more to demonstrate he can campaign strong enough to beat Donald Trump”. Michael Bennet,of Colorado,warned that Mr Trump was on track to win “by a landslide, and take with him the Senate and the House”.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has also publicly aired their doubts since the debate.
But the president is not without his backers.
Vice-President Kamala Harris has not wavered in standing by her boss, as have potential replacement candidates such as Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, and his Michigan and Maryland contemporaries Gretchen Whitmer and Wes Moore.
The powerful Congressional Black Caucus, which represents about one quarter of House Democrats, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have recently reaffirmed their backing for Mr Biden. But some of their members are reportedly not on board.
Also standing by Mr Biden, and enthusiastically so, are outspoken figures on the Hill such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York congresswoman, two-time presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania senator. – BBC
By Sam Cabral and Brandon Drenon