WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, called on President Joe Biden to step down as his party’s nominee for the White House on Tuesday citing the president’s poor performance at a debate against former President Donald Trump last week.
“President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump,” Doggett said in a statement Tuesday. “I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”
Doggett, 77, is the first Democratic member of Congress to call for Biden to withdraw from the ticket since his debate. U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minnesota, ran a challenge against Biden in the Democratic primaries but has stayed muted since the debate.
Biden’s performance during last Thursday’s debate alarmed Democrats in Texas, who are facing a number of competitive races down ticket, including for U.S. Senate. Still, Democrats across the party’s big tent have stopped short of calling for his withdrawal, either rallying behind the president or keeping their lips sealed.
“The 2024 election presents a choice between two very different visions for our future: President Biden’s vision that moves America forward for all of the American people, or President Trump’s vision of that reverses our progress, denies our freedom, and divides our country. It’s clear which candidate is best for America and Americans,” U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, said in a statement in response to Doggett.
Though Biden was unlikely to win the solidly Republican Texas, his performance could impact down ballot races in the state if disenchanted Democrats choose to stay home on Election Day. U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, is running to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, this year in one of Democrats’ few flip targets for U.S. Senate. Democrats are hoping to unseat U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-McAllen, in the 15th Congressional District and are on the defensive for Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s seat in the 34th district and Rep. Henry Cuellar’s seat in the 28th district — both in South Texas.
Allred, Cuellar and Michelle Vallejo, the Democratic candidate in the 15th district, have so far kept quiet on Biden’s debate performance. Gonzalez said voters”in my district know me well” independent of the president.
“The cowards in the Democratic Caucus have spent every day after the debate in witness protection, too afraid to say what they’re all thinking,” said Jack Pandol, communications director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “Americans remember House Democrats were complicit in covering up and gaslighting the public about the president’s condition, and voters are primed to punish them in November.”
Doggett shares the title of longest serving member of Congress from Texas with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and represents a comfortably Democratic seat based in Austin. He has been in Congress since 1995.
In his statement, Doggett thanked Biden for his service, saying he had “achieved much for our country at home and abroad,” including the post-pandemic recovery and restoring administrative norms after the Trump presidency. But he said Biden does not have the best chance of challenging Trump among the party, expressing an urgency among Democrats to take on a former president they say would be detrimental to the country’s democracy.
“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same,” Doggett continued. “While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional.”
If Biden were to bow out, Democrats would have to pick a new candidate at their national convention in Chicago this August. Johnson’s withdrawal in 1968 led to bedlam at that year’s Democratic National Convention, also in Chicago. Vice President Herbert Humphrey won the nomination that year before losing handedly to Republican Richard Nixon.
Biden has so far stood firm that he is the best candidate to beat Trump. Since the debate, he and his surrogates have met with donors and Democratic elected officials to quell nerves and keep the money flowing to his campaign. He took to the rally stage in North Carolina the day after the debate to acknowledge his shortcomings but reassure voters.
“I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth,” he said.
Numerous Democrats have been floated as potential successors, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. None have openly thrown their name into the ring.