By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A growing number of Democrats in the U.S. Congress are calling on Democratic President Joe Biden to end his re-election bid after the 81-year-old incumbent’s halting debate performance against Republican rival Donald Trump.
Here is a list of lawmakers who have publicly called for Biden to not run again.
REPRESENTATIVE LLOYD DOGGETT
Doggett, a U.S. House of Representatives member from a safe Democratic district in Texas, was the first congressional Democrat to call for Biden to step down.
“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. “I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not.”
REPRESENTATIVE RAUL GRIJALVA
Grijalva, a liberal who represents a district in southern Arizona along the border with Mexico, told the New York Times it was time for Biden to end his campaign, saying, “If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere.”
REPRESENTATIVE MIKE QUIGLEY
A moderate from Illinois, Quigley told MSNBC that Biden must step aside and “let someone else do this” or risk “utter catastrophe.”
REPRESENTATIVE ANGIE CRAIG
Craig, whose district is considered a top priority for Republicans to win back in November, was the first incumbent from a highly competitive district to call for Biden to step down.
“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,” Craig said.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker)
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