First House Democrat Says Biden Should Withdraw From Race

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) became the first sitting Democratic member of Congress to publicly call for President Joe Biden to step aside following his disastrous debate performance.

Biden has been facing increasing scrutiny since his debate with former President Donald Trump last Thursday, including several moments in which the 81-year-old, voice raspy from an apparent cold, struggled to find his train of thought. Recent polling showed 72% of Americans did not believe Biden has the “mental and cognitive health to be president.”

Doggett, who represents an Austin district, issued a statement “respectfully” calling for Biden to withdraw from the race, according to a tweet by AP congressional reporter Farnoush Amiri .

In the statement, Doggett lamented how Biden has trailed Trump in the polls and “has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states.” The Texas Democrat shared how he “had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that.”

“It did not,” wrote Doggett. “Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.” He cited the past example of former President Lyndon B. Johnson , who once represented the very same congressional district as Doggett. Biden should follow Johnson’s example, urged Doggett, and “make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw.”

The full text of Doggett’s statement:

Having devoted his life to public service, President Biden has achieved much for our country at home and abroad. Stepping up to lead a Nation in crisis, President Biden helped rebuild our country from the devastation of a pandemic, an insurrection, and years of Trump wreckage. Yet, for more than a year, many Americans have indicated dissatisfaction with their choices in this election. President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.

Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang. Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now. President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024. This week, with the Supreme Court creating “a law-free zone around the President,” Trump, newly-empowered with immunity, could usher America into a long, dark, authoritarian era unchecked by either the courts or a submissive Republican Congress.

I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same. While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional. He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process. My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved. Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.

This is a breaking news story and has been updated.