Joe Biden’s Family Start Plotting His Exit as More Top Democrats Say ‘Quit’

President Joe Biden was backed further into a corner Friday by a growing number of Democrats calling for him to step down, as his family reportedly began gaming out a path for him to end his reelection bid.

Biden’s new skeptics include Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), who joined Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) as the only four senators so far calling for Biden to step aside. Tester and Brown are both from states where then-President Donald Trump beat Biden by large margins, and they face the toughest re-election bids of any Senate Democrats. Heinrich is looking to secure his third term in the upper chamber, and is running in a much safer seat.

In the House, at least 30 Democrats—more than 13 percent of the caucus—have now decisively called on Biden to pass the torch. A third of those calls for Biden to drop out came on Friday, tripling the number of Biden defectors in just one day. Others have expressed major concerns about his ability to beat Trump or even to do his job.

Four signed onto a joint letter Friday saying that perceptions about the president’s age have hurt his campaign too much for him to continue.

“These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened in the aftermath of last month’s debate and are now unlikely to change,” Reps. Marc Veasey (D-TX), Chuy Garcia (D-IL), Mark Pocan (D-WI), and Jared Huffman wrote.

The statement sounds a little like a dam breaking. Veasey was the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus, a group which has been one of Biden’s staunchest defenders , to call for the president to pass the torch. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), whose swing state district is especially at risk with Biden at the top of the ticket, joined the fray Friday afternoon as well. Vasquez and Garcia are members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and made their statements the same day that the CHC’s political arm issued an endorsement of Biden that had been planned before his disastrous debate .

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), an ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also asked Biden to forgo his bid in a Thursday letter that she released on Friday.

“I want to be clear that should you formally become the Democratic nominee for President I will do everything I can to promote your candidacy and to work for your success,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, I greatly doubt that the outcome will be positive and our country will pay a dreadful price for that.”

Reps. Sean Casten (D-IL), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Betty McCollum (D-MN), and Kathy Castor (D-FL) asked Biden to step aside as well. Their moves followed Rep. Jim Costa’s (D-CA) decision to do the same on Thursday night.

The pressure campaign against Biden came to a halt briefly after an assassination attempt against Trump last weekend. But it began picking up again on Wednesday when Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), another Pelosi ally, urged the president to step aside. Reports have trickled out since then suggesting Pelosi was working against Biden behind the scenes, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Vice President Kamala Harris told donors on a call Friday afternoon that the ticket will remain intact, CNBC reported . The president, meanwhile, has been sidelined in Rehoboth Beach while he recovers from COVID. His doctor wrote in a Friday letter that his symptoms have improved.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a Biden ally, said at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday that the president was “weighing” the best candidate to win in November.

“I am confident he is hearing what he needs to hear from colleagues, from the public, from folks,” Coons said.

But Biden’s own statement Friday made it sound like nothing they said had changed his mind.

“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone,” he wrote.

The Bidens have discussed options for how the president might step aside and give the party the best chance of defeating Donald Trump , two sources told NBC News . They have talked about how the campaign is affecting his health, his family and the nation’s future, and how Biden should be given grace to make an announcement on his own timing.

Discussions within the first family would necessarily include the president’s wife, First Lady Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden and sister, Valerie Owens, a longtime political adviser to her brother.

Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, insisted Friday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Biden will become the party’s official nominee ahead of its convention next month. The president issued a statement later that did not specifically address whether he'll be the nominee but said he will campaign to defeat Trump.

“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone,” the president said.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates denied NBC’s reporting, saying, “That is not happening, period. The individuals making those claims are not speaking for his family or his team—and they will be proven wrong. Keep the faith.”

Facing mounting concerns about his age and mental acuity, Biden’s candidacy has been in jeopardy in the weeks following his debate debacle with Trump. He has repeatedly insisted that he is the party’s nominee and will not step aside short of a request from “God Almighty.”

Biden has been holed up at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., since announcing on Wednesday that he tested positive for COVID. The White House has listed no public events on his schedule as reports have suggested his time in the race is running short.

The president said during an interview this week that he would consider dropping out of the race if he “had some medical condition that emerged.” A Thursday update from his doctor said he was only experiencing “mild” symptoms and “his vital signs remain normal” as he is treated with Paxlovid.

There are some signs the Bidens are not yet ready to give up.

The first lady is reportedly scheduled to attend a Martha’s Vineyard fundraiser for her husband on July 29, just days before the Democratic Party is expected to lock in its nominee with a virtual roll call vote.

Read more at The Daily Beast.