President Biden has remained defiant in the face of growing concern about his fitness for reelection following his highly criticized debate performance on June 27.
But his efforts to reassure voters of his ability to beat former President Donald Trump a second time have done little to suppress the mounting pressure from his party and a volley of pundits calling on him to reconsider his candidacy.
Five elected Democrats have now called for Biden to step aside in his reelection bid, and a number of other party leaders have voiced concerns.
Biden, meanwhile, has shown no signs of backing down. He said he simply had a “bad night” during his debate in his first interview afterwards with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, and he’s held rallies in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania since.
Yahoo News has compiled a running list of all the Democrats who have publicly expressed concerns about Biden continuing his campaign in the wake of the debate. Check back here as this article will be continually updated.
Calling for Biden to step aside
Rep. Angie Craig
Craig, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 2nd congressional district, issued a statement on Saturday, hours after the ABC interview, for Biden to step aside in the 2024 race.
While noting her respect for Biden’s “decades of service,” Craig said “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.
“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,” she added, before calling on Biden to drop out of the race and “allow for a new generation of leaders to step forward.”
“There is only a small window left to make sure we have a candidate best equipped to make the case and win,” Craig said.
Rep. Mike Quigley
Quigley, an Illinois Democrat, on Friday became the fourth House Democrat to call on Biden to exit the presidential race.
“Mr. President, your legacy is set,” he said on MSNBC. “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 affirmed his decision in comments following Biden’s ABC News interview Friday.
The Illinois representative had previously publicly expressed reservations about Biden continuing his campaign, urging the president to “appreciate at this time just how much it impacts not just his race, but all the other races that are coming in November.”
Rep. Seth Moulton
Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and Iraq war vet, became the third House Democrat to call on Biden to step aside on Thursday. He did so in an interview with Boston radio station WBUR.
“President Biden has done enormous service to our country, but now is the time for him to follow in one of our founding father, George Washington’s footsteps and step aside to let new leaders rise up and run against Donald Trump,” Moulton told WBUR.
Moulton said the mechanism for choosing a new candidate was “yet to be determined” and could include “some sort of primary process” or that Vice President Kamala Harris could emerge as the presidential nominee.
On Wednesday, Moulton had released a statement that had stopped short of calling for Biden to exit, but had recommended “all viable options” be on the table.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva
Grijalva became the second House Democrat to call on Biden to drop out. In an interview, he said, “If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere.”
“What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat,” he continued, “and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race.”
Rep. Lloyd Doggett
Doggett was the first Democrat in office to publicly call for Biden to drop out. In a statement, which circulated on X on July 2, Doggett, of Texas, said Biden’s debate performance did not reassure voters and Biden “failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s lies.”
Following Biden’s ABC News interview Friday, Doggett said the “need” for Biden to step aside was growing more urgent every day.
Former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan
Ryan published an opinion piece for Newsweek on July 1 that called for Kamala Harris to be the new Democratic nominee.
“We have to rip the band aid off! Too much is at stake,” Ryan wrote in an X post linking out to his article. “It’s time!”
Expressed concerns about Biden’s candidacy
Gov. Maura Healey
The first-term Massachusetts Democrat issued a statement Friday urging Biden to “listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump.”
Healey stopped short of calling for Biden to step aside and praised the president by saying he “saved our Democracy in 2020 and has done an outstanding job over the last four years.”
“Whatever President Biden decides, I am committed to doing everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump,” Healey added.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
Perez stopped short of officially calling on Biden to drop out in an interview with an ABC affiliate on July 3. The Washington congresswoman said, “The truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump. … I think the damage has been done by that debate.”
Rep. Summer Lee
CBS News reported that during a radio interview, Lee, of Pennsylvania, said that “the vice president is the obvious choice” for the nominee should Biden decide to drop out.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) on the radio, per @MacFarlaneNews:
“Maybe folks don’t want to hear, but we have timing that is running out. Time is not on our side. We have a few months to do a monumental task. It’s not cheap and it’s not easy. If our president decides this is not a…
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) July 3, 2024
Rep. Ann McLane Kuster
Kuster, who is the chair of the New Democrat Coalition, told CNN on July 3 that she has “conveyed concerns” to the White House and the Biden campaign.
“In order to respond to our constituents’ concerns, we need to demonstrate that the president is fit not just for the job but for the campaign,” said the New Hampshire congresswoman. “They [the insurrectionists] almost killed me on Jan. 6. The stakes are very high. I’m trying to save our democracy.”
.@RepAnnieKuster tells me: “Joe Biden has always done the right thing for his country, so that’s why I expect that this will get resolved.”
Kuster, who is retiring, leads the New Dems, a group of over 100 mostly moderates including many frontliners.
“I have conveyed concerns to…
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) July 3, 2024
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
While Pelosi was a vocal supporter of Biden over the weekend, during a July 2 interview with MSNBC, she pulled back slightly, saying, “I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?’… of both candidates.”
“I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?’…of both candidates.”
WATCH: Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi reacts to Democrats concerns about President Biden. pic.twitter.com/KRm2fdfXH0
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 2, 2024
Rep. James Clyburn
Like Pelosi, Clyburn seemed to soften his previous stance on Biden continuing to run in an interview with MSNBC.
“I will support [Harris] if [Biden] were to step aside,” the South Carolina congressman said.
“No. This party should not, in any way, do anything to work around Ms. Harris. We should do everything we can to bolster her whether she’s in second place or at the top of the ticket.”
WATCH: Rep. Clyburn defends VP Harris role in the Democratic party. pic.twitter.com/IBjn9FJ9Jh
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 2, 2024
Former Obama official and former mayor of San Antonio, Julián Castro
Castro told MSNBC on Tuesday that “there are strong options out there for Democrats — we have a lot of stable folks that I think could do a better job, including Vice President Harris.”
‘Another Democrat would have a better shot’ at beating Trump than Biden: Castro
President Biden has been facing growing concern from Democrats about his age and wellbeing since the debate.
Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro joins Chris Jansing to share their thoughts. pic.twitter.com/TY3uHAm83u
— MSNBC Reports (@MSNBC_reports) July 2, 2024
Rep. Jared Golden
In an opinion piece published in a local Maine paper titled “Donald Trump is going to win the election and democracy will be just fine,” Golden said he was not surprised by Biden’s debate performance.
“The outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that,” Golden wrote. The Maine congressman added that he did not plan to vote for Trump. “Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system.”
Sen. Peter Welch
In an interview with Semafor, Welch, of Vermont, criticized the Biden campaign’s “dismissive” attitude regarding his debate performance.
“Passivity is not the response that is going to work for us. We all have to be self-conscious,” he said. “We all have to be acutely aware that our obligation is to the country, even more than the party. That’s the obligation we have — what’s best for the country.”
Rep. Debbie Dingell
“One interview isn’t going to fix this,” Dingell, of Michigan, said in an interview with CNN. “I think the campaign’s got to listen to people. And by the way, I think the campaign needs to listen to us.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
In a July 1 interview with CBS affiliate WPRI, Whitehouse, of Rhode Island, said he was “pretty horrified” after watching the debate.
“I have never seen that happen before,” he said about Biden’s performance. “I think people want to make sure that this is a campaign that’s ready to go and win, that the president and his team are being candid with us about his condition, that this was a real anomaly and not just the way he is these days.”
Dem Sen. Whitehouse w/ tough comments about Biden’s debate.
“I think like a lot of people I was pretty horrified”
“People want to make sure that…the president and his team are being candid about his condition that this was a real anomaly and not just the way he is these days.” pic.twitter.com/m1u27dSf6o— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 1, 2024