Three More California House Democrats Call On Biden To Exit Race

Three more Democratic Congressional members – Jim Costa (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Jared Huffman (D-CA) – made announcements on Friday, saying that they are calling on President Joe Biden to step aside and not run in the 2024 election.

The California Democratic delegation, by far the largest in the House, had been firm in the support of Biden for several weeks following his disastrous June debate against Trump.  That was until early last week, when California had their first Congressional member to break away from the party – Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) of Riverside. However, many lawmakers continued to withhold on outright calling for Biden to step aside, with many waiting on Biden’s next press conference.

Biden gave his press conference last Thursday, and made it error prone like previous appearances, leading many more Democrats to drop out of support despite Biden trying to remain defiant. By the next day, 19 Congressional Democrats, as well as one Senator, have joined the growing movement of withdrawing support for Biden. This included two more from California, Congressmen Mike Levin (D-CA) and Scott Peters (D-CA), from both Orange County and San Diego County respectively. Earlier this week, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) joined them in calling for Biden to step aside, becoming the most senior Democratic leader to do so so far.

Following Schiff’s Wednesday announcement, the first post-assassination attempt polls came out, showing Trump surging. Overnight, Trump jumped up over 1% in polling, where he currently holds over a 3% lead over Biden. Aggregates also now show Trump winning the election as well based on current trends. Based on the new polling data, and seemingly a greenlight from Schiff for more Democrats to switch over, 10 more House members have called on Biden to step aside in the last 2 days. This included the three Californian members of Costa, Lofgren, and Huffman.

Costa was the first new Californian member to call on Biden to step down following Schiff’s announcement. In a statement, Costa even borrowed the term “pass the torch” from Schiff, with the phrase becoming increasingly popular in such announcements.

“I am proud of the work we have done to pass monumental legislation that is leading to the first real investments in our communities in decades,” said Costa in a statement. “But for the good of the country, I think it is time for the President to pass the torch to the next generation to carry on the legacy he started.”

Congressman Huffman was the next, issuing a statement along with three other Congressmen – Mark Veasey (D-TX), Chuy Garcia (D-IL), and Mark Pocan (D-WI).  In their joint statement, they noted that “Mr. President, with great admiration for you personally, sincere respect for your decades of public service and patriotic leadership, and deep appreciation for everything we have accomplished together during your presidency, it is now time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders.

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

3 more Californian Democrats against Biden

Lofgren was the third to go against Biden on Friday. In a letter, she said that Biden is on a trajectory to lose the election, and that he needs to step aside now for the Democrats to have any chance of winning later this year.

“I know, perhaps as well as anyone, how unsuitable Donald Trump is to be president,” said Lofgren. “As I am aware that you have been provided data indicating that you in all likelihood will lose the race for President, I will not go through it again. Simply put, your candidacy is on a trajectory to lose the White House and potentially impact crucial House and Senate races down ballot.

“It is for these reasons that I urge you to step aside from our Party’s nomination to allow another Democratic candidate to compete against and beat Donald Trump in the November election.”

Political insiders told the Globe on Friday that the movement to call on Biden to drop out would only snowball more and more as the Democratic National Convention gets closer.

“It has been growing quickly,” explained San Diego area pollster Gale Martin to the Globe on Friday. “Things slowed down most of the week as everyone was still reacting to the Trump assassination attempt and the RNC starting up. But once Schiff said that, he kind of kickstarted things.

“Surprisingly, California lawmakers are helping lead the charge on this one. And since California is an absolute must for any nominee to get, Republican or Democrat, Biden has to be growing worried about his chances. More and more of the California delegation is pulling support. If Pelosi does it, or if [House Speaker Hakeem] Jeffries (D-NY) do it, then it cripples him. If more Senators join in, then it could be game over. Biden needs a graceful way out.

“I mean, the Republicans have undone any and all negative losses from Trump’s verdict in court. Even worse for them, Trump and the GOP are playing it more subdued right now. They’re letting the Democrats tear themselves apart and Trump has garnered major points for how he handled the assassination attempt. I mean, getting up and giving major speeches only days after being shot? That’s Teddy Roosevelt territory there.

“This is why all these Californian House members want someone else. Biden is not going to win against that. Harris, Newsom, Whitmer. Maybe. But so many more dropped out today, and others are going to follow.”

More Congressional members are expected to drop support for Biden in the coming days.