A day after President Joe Biden’s high-profile ABC News interview was meant to reassure members of his own party that he is mentally capable of holding the nation’s highest office, another House Democrat is publicly calling for Biden to step aside from the presidential race.
Representative Angie Craig (D., Minn.), a swing-district lawmaker, released a statement on Saturday calling for Biden, 81, to withdraw from the race due to his disastrous debate performance last month and his failure to effectively respond to widespread concerns about his age and mental capacity.
“Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,” Craig said.
“This is not a decision I’ve come to lightly, but there is simply too much at stake to risk a second Donald Trump presidency. That’s why I respectfully call on President Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee for a second term as President and allow for a new generation of leaders to step forward.”
Craig becomes the fifth House Democrat to call for Biden to step aside after Representatives Lloyd Doggett (D., Texas.), Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.), Seth Moulton (D., Mass.), and Mike Quigley (D., Ill.) did so following the debate. Other Democratic lawmakers have publicly predicted that former president Donald Trump will defeat Biden this November.
With Biden on the ballot in the 2020 presidential election cycle, Craig won her seat by two points against a Republican challenger. In the 2022 midterms, Craig secured a five point victory over her Republican opponent.
“Joe Biden is sitting in the Oval Office because @AngieCraigMN and Dems hid the truth from voters and lied about the president’s condition,” a spokesman for the GOP’s House campaign arm said on X.
“Angie Craig must answer the question: Is Joe Biden fit to serve as President?”
Last week, the Biden campaign went into damage control mode on Capitol Hill, contacting Democratic lawmakers and senior staffers to maintain support, as NR previously reported.
Meanwhile, Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.) is reportedly working to build support among Democratic senators to push Biden to drop out. Biden dismissed the reports about Warner’s effort during a campaign stop in Wisconsin on Friday, claiming Warner was the only one pushing for his ouster.
ABC’s George Stephanapoulos interviewed Biden on Friday as the president seeks to lessen widespread Democratic worries over his age and mental fitness. Although multiple Democrats called for Biden to step down before the interview, he dismissed the idea as media generated and declined to sit down for an independent neurological examination.
Biden’s disastrous debate performance on June 27 was marked by repeated slurring of his words and noticeable issues forming coherent sentences. Ever since, Democrats have publicly discussed whether Biden should stay in the race and the possibility of putting vice president Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket instead of him.
Over the past few days, a flurry of news stories have come out with more information about Biden’s struggles behind the scenes and his family’s push for him to remain the Democratic nominee. For his entire presidency, conservatives have routinely observed Biden’s age-related difficulties when he appears in public.