Iowa Democratic congressional candidates feel relief with Biden out of race

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Democratic congressional candidates are feeling relieved that the party is able to focus on the future instead of the past.

“And then relief that we as a party can move forward and start to unify. I personally never called for President Biden to drop out,” said Ryan Melton, the Democratic candidate for IA-04, after he thanked the sitting President Joe Biden for what he had done, acknowledging that it was probably a very difficult decision.

Two of the four challenging the Republican Congressional delegation called for Biden to step down almost two weeks ago. Sarah Corkery and Christina Bohannan both asked Biden to step down for the betterment of the party.

“But what really got me to speak out on the 11th when so many people I know personally who donated decades of volunteer time to the party and felt they couldn’t even say the words out loud,” said Sarah Corkery, Democratic candidate for IA-02. “‘I’m concerned about President Biden being our nominee,’ and when they felt they had a whisper it in my ear, I thought, this is not the party we should be. We should be able to talk about it, openly, express our concerns and figure out a path forward.”

Both Melton and Bohannan agreed that Vice President Harris will be great for the party at the top of the ticket, if she does end up being the nominee. Both also said that the delegates should honor the Biden win in the Iowa caucuses, because she was serving with him at the time.

Christina Bohannan, running in IA-02, and Lanon Baccam, running in IA-03, have not yet responded for comment on the withdrawal from President Biden.

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