Representative Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) said on Meet the Press Sunday that he is concerned about whether President Joe Biden remains the Democratic Party’s best chance to defeat former president Donald Trump in November.
The June debate between the two parties’ presumptive nominees “rightfully raised questions about whether the president has the vigor to defeat Donald Trump,” Schiff said.
He added later that he worries that, should Biden’s poor polling numbers persist and materialize as an electoral defeat, he will drag down Democratic candidates nationwide with him.
“It should not even be close,” Schiff said of polling showing Trump with leads over Biden in swing states and the national popular vote, not simply within striking distance of the current president. “The reason it is close is the president’s age.”
While Schiff did not go so far as to call on Biden to step away from the ticket, he did say he believes Vice President Kamala Harris would make a competitive candidate.
“I think she very well could win overwhelmingly,” Schiff said, “but before we get into a decision about who else it should be, the president needs to make a decision about whether it’s him.”
If Biden ultimately decides that he is not up to the task, Schiff told Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker, he should “pass the torch.”
While discussions swirl around political media and Washington over whether the president will indeed withdraw from the race, Biden has maintained that he is not going anywhere.
The Biden campaign and the president himself have repeatedly stated that he will be at the top of the Democratic ticket in November, and in a Friday interview with George Stephanopoulos, he blamed his debate performance on a “bad episode” and maintained that he has shown “no indications of any serious condition.”
Despite Biden’s assurances, a CBS News/YouGov poll taken in the immediate aftermath of the debate showed that 72 percent of respondents believe he does not have the mental and cognitive health necessary to serve as president. A Wall Street Journal survey had 80 percent of those polled saying Biden should not follow through on his re-election bid because of his age.
On Capitol Hill, Representative Angie Craig (D., Minn.) became the fifth Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to make way for a different presidential candidate with a statement issued Saturday morning.
Efforts to convince Biden not to run are underway in the upper chamber as well, with Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.) reportedly attempting to assemble a group of colleagues to ask the president to leave the race.