Dems to Biden: Time’s Up. Get Out.

The spike in new defectors signals that the party has run out of patience and believes a decisive moment is at hand.

By ALLY MUTNICK, SARAH FERRIS, MIA MCCARTHY and IRIE SENTNER

07/19/2024 07:49 PM EDT

Another wave of Democrats has renewed calls for President Joe Biden to drop out of the race on Friday — a sudden burst of defectors at the end of a week of crisis for the Biden campaign that’s been defined by leaks and whispered conversations about the president’s potential exit.

First on Friday was Rep. Sean Casten, who published an op-ed “calling on Biden to pass the torch to a new generation.”

Hours later, four more House Democrats, including two who hail from the congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus — groups that have strongly backed Biden — released a joint statement calling on Biden to step aside.

And then another and another. And another.

By the evening two senators had joined.

It’s a signal that the party has run out of patience and believes a decisive moment is at hand — and the latest indication that Biden has failed to staunch the flood of Democrats urging him to step aside since his disastrous debate performance on June 27. Since then, more than 30 Democrats have called on him to step down while top congressional leaders are urging him to reconsider his decision to remain in the race behind closed doors.

More are certainly coming. Aides to House Democratic leadership, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have told members as recently as Friday that if they want to call on the president to step aside, the time to do so is now, according to three people familiar with the conversations.

They are not urging members to drop Biden, those people said, only advising them on timing. But by not standing in members’ way — and telling them to not wait to launch their messages — leadership is indicating the time for back-channeling is over. Despite entreaties from high-ranking members of his own party, Biden has remained in the race and given no public indications that he will reconsider.

And when one lawmaker’s office suggested they would make a private call to the Biden campaign to register complaints, one leadership aide advised that private calls were not the most effective now, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Another member who spoke with Jeffries’ office and is close to House leadership plans to call for Biden to bow out within the next 24 hours.

Shortly after the early morning House Democrats issued their statement, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) also called on Biden to pass the torch, becoming the third senator to do so after Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) made the call late Thursday. Heinrich had previously expressed concerns over Biden but had not explicitly called on him to drop out. He was joined later in the evening by fellow Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of two Democratic senators seeking reelection in a state that former President Donald Trump won in 2020.

In a statement, he said that he “agreed with the many Ohioans who reached out to me” and that he believes it’s time for Biden to end his campaign.

The 35 Democrats in Congress publicly calling for Biden to drop out

Rep. Earl Blumenauer 

Rep. Blumenauer (OR)

Sen. Sherrod Brown

Sen. Brown (OH)

Rep. Ed Case

Rep. Case (HI)

Rep. Sean Casten

Rep. Casten (IL)

Rep. Kathy Castor

Rep. Castor (FL)

Rep. Jim Costa

Rep. Costa (CA)

Rep. Angie Craig

Rep. Craig (MN)

Rep. Doggett

Rep. Doggett (TX)

Rep. Chuy Garcia

Rep. Garcia (IL)

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva

Rep. Grijalva (AZ)

Sen. Martin Heinrich

Sen. Heinrich (NM)

Rep. James Himes

Rep. Himes (CT)

Rep. Jared Huffman

Rep. Huffman (CA)

Rep. Greg Landsman

Rep. Landsman (OH)

Rep. Mike Levin

Rep. Levin (CA)

Rep. Zoe Lofgren

Rep. Lofgren(CA)

Rep. Betty McCollum

Rep. McCollum (MN)

Rep. Morgan McGarvey

Rep. McGarvey (KY)

Rep. Seth Moulton

Rep. Moulton (MA)

Rep. Scott Peters

Rep. Peters (CA)

Rep. Brittany Pettersen

Rep. Pettersen (CO)

Rep. Mark Pocan

Rep. Pocan (WI)

Rep. Mike Quigley

Rep. Quigley (IL)

Rep. Pat Ryan

Rep. Ryan (NY)

Rep. Adam Schiff

Rep. Schiff (CA)

Rep. Brad Schneider

Rep. Schneider (IL)

Rep. Scholten

Rep. Scholten (MI)

Rep. Mikie Sherrill

Rep. Sherrill (NJ)

Rep. Adam Smith

Rep. Smith (WA)

Rep. Eric Sorensen

Rep. Sorensen (IL)

Rep. Greg Stanton

Rep. Stanton (AZ)

Sen. Jon Tester

Sen. Tester (MT)

Rep. Gabe Vasquez

Rep. Vasquez (NM)

Rep. Marc Veasey

Rep. Veasey (TX)

Sen. Peter Welch

Sen. Welch (VT)

By the afternoon, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) — an ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is reportedly doing “everything in her power” to make sure Biden steps aside — had joined the pile, releasing separate statements. Then Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.) and Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) hopped on board.

In her statement, McCollum encouraged Vice President Kamala Harris to consider Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as a running mate if she were to become the nominee. Lofgren said the party could not “do a coronation” of Harris, but acknowledged she would be “the leading candidate.”

“I think kind of a mini primary, maybe a vetting hosted by former presidents including Obama and Clinton, would be helpful and help focus the attention,” Lofgren said on MSNBC. “And whoever emerges, including Kamala Harris, would be a stronger candidate than if we tried to exclude a transparent public process.”

Mia Ehrenberg, a spokesperson with Biden’s campaign, said that they’re “clear-eyed” that some lawmakers may feel differently than the majority of Democrats in Congress

“Unlike Republicans, we’re a party that accepts – and even celebrates – differing opinions,” she said in a statement.

Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Marc Veasey (D-Texas), Chuy García (D-Ill.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said in their statement that the party has a “bench of young leaders,” naming Vice President Kamala Harris specifically. Veasey is a member of the Biden-loyal Black Caucus and Garcia is part of the Hispanic Caucus, whose political PAC endorsed Biden Friday.

Lofgren, Huffman, Pocan and Garcia are all vocal members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has been more split on Biden’s future on the ticket — though some members of the so-called progressive Squad have been firmly in his corner.

“We must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign,” the four wrote in the letter. “These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened in the aftermath of last month’s debate and are now unlikely to change.”

They added: “We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do in this moment is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House.”

Still, Biden has been unwavering in his public promise to stay in the race, and his campaign doesn’t appear to be backing down. “Absolutely the president’s in this race,” Jen O’Malley Dillon said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday.

“I’m not here to say this hasn’t been a tough several weeks for the campaign, there’s no doubt that it has been, and we’ve definitely seen some slippage in support,” O’Malley Dillon added. “But it has been a small movement.”

But as more Democrats pile on, that could be changing.

“I think our president is weighing what he should weigh, which is who is the best candidate to win in November and to carry forward the Democratic Party’s values and priorities in this campaign,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), one of Biden’s closest allies in the Senate and a co-chair of Biden’s 2024 campaign, said Friday at the Aspen Security Forum.