Congress returns to Capitol Hill: Here are the five members calling Biden to step aside

Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill on Monday after the July 4 recess amid growing anxiety about President Joe Biden’s status as the top of the ticket in this November’s election.In the days following the debate debacle in Atlanta , concerns about Biden’s fitness for office prompted five Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives to urge the presumptive nominee to withdraw from his position as the party’s candidate for the November election. Despite this, Biden remains defiant and signaled his intent to stay in the race. In a letter to Congressional Democrats on Monday, Biden said he would not step aside and called for an end to the party drama.

“The voters – and the voters alone – decide the nominee of the Democratic Party,” he wrote.

Lloyd Doggett of Texas

Lloyd Doggest, 77, was the first Democratic lawmaker to break from the party and call for Biden to step aside. On July 2, he called Biden to make way for a “new generation of leaders” to unite the country.

“President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020,” he said in a statement. “He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024.”

Raúl Grijalva of Arizona

Raúl Grijalva , 76, told the New York Times on July 3 that Democrats need to “put up a fight” against Trump and that Biden should exit the 2024 race, the day after Doggett made his call.

“What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race,” Grijalva told the Times.

Seth Moulton of Massachusetts

Seth Moulton , 45, first signaled his lack of confidence in Biden’s ability to beat Trump in a July 3 statement. He went further in a July 4 interview with WBUR and called for the president to step aside.

“President Biden has done enormous service to our country, but now is the time for him to follow in one of our founding fathers, George Washington’s footsteps, and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump,” he said in the interview.

Mike Quigley of Illinois

Mike Quigley , 65, became the fourth Democratic member of Congress to call on the president to bow out of the race after Biden’s first on-air interview after the June 27 debate with ABC News.

“Mr. President, your legacy is set. We owe you the greatest debt of gratitude. The only thing that you can do now to cement that for all time and prevent utter catastrophe is to step down and let someone else do this,” Quigley said on MSNBC on July 5.

Angie Craig of Minnesota

Angie Craig , 52, is the most recent House Democrat to call on the president to step aside. Her statement came after Biden’s ABC interview on July 6.

“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 article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Congress returns to Capitol Hill: Here are the five members calling Biden to step aside