WASHINGTON — Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, has become the first sitting Democrat to call on President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, citing his poor debate performance and the fact that Biden has “been trailing President Donald Trump all year” in opinion polls.
“Our first consideration is who stands the best chance of saving our democracy from a tyrannical takeover by a criminal and his allies. The risks are too great to jeopardize a Trump victory; too great to think we can overturn now what we couldn't overturn in a year, what we couldn't overturn in the debates,” Doggett said in a statement on Tuesday. “President Biden saved our democracy by saving us from Trump in 2020. We must not hand us over to Trump in 2024.”
While many Democrats have privately expressed concern or anonymously suggested Biden should drop out of the race, Doggett, 77, who represents a Democratic district based in Austin, Texas, and has served in Congress since 1995, is the first to do so publicly.
“I represent the heart of the district once represented by Lyndon Johnson,” Doggett continued. “Under very different circumstances, Johnson made the difficult decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same.”
“I expect him to make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw and I respectfully call on him to do so,” he said.
The president and his campaign have maintained that Biden will remain in the race and be the party's nominee in 2024, but it's unclear if or how many Democrats will follow suit. A Biden campaign official said the president will “remain” and noted that other Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, have issued statements endorsing Biden.
Doggett stressed that he believes Biden has “accomplished a lot for our country at home and abroad” as president, but added that “while much of his work has been transformative, he has vowed to be in a transitional period. He has an opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders who can select candidates who will unite our country through an open, democratic process.”
“President Biden continues to trail well behind Democratic senators in key states and also behind Donald Trump in most polls. There were hopes that the debate would be the catalyst for changing that, but it hasn't been. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend many of his accomplishments and expose many of Trump's lies,” Doggett said.
He argued that the Supreme Court's immunity decision lent new urgency to the task of defeating Trump. “By creating a 'lawless zone around the president' this week, the Supreme Court's newly granted immunity could lead America into a long, dark era of authoritarianism, unchecked by either the courts or a compliant Republican Congress,” Doggett said.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
