Congressman Adam Schiff is calling on President Biden to drop out of the presidential race, becoming the latest senior Democrat to do so amid concerns about whether the president can win against Donald Trump.
“While the decision to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,” Schiff said in a statement Wednesday.
“And in doing so, we will secure his legacy of leadership by enabling us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election,” he continued.
Schiff, a top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and a close ally of Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, is running for the Senate to represent California.
He also led the first impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Rep. Adam Schiff called on President Biden to drop out of the presidential race and “pass the torch”
“Joe Biden has been one of the most important presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a senator, vice president, and now president has made our country better,” reads a statement provided by his campaign.
“But our nation is at a crossroads. A second Trump presidency would undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious doubts about whether the president will be able to defeat Donald Trump in November,” he continued.
“But make no mistake, whoever our party ends up nominating, or if the nomination remains in the president’s hands, I will do everything I can to help him succeed. There is only one goal: defeating Donald Trump. The stakes are too high,” he added.
Schiff’s call for Biden to step aside was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
President Biden speaks July 16 at the Prosperity Summit in North Las Vegas
His statement comes as a brutal new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 65 percent of Democrats want Biden to drop out of the race and let the party nominate a different candidate.
It also found that only 3 in 10 Democrats are confident in his mental ability to serve as president.
The results undermine Biden’s claim that “average Democrats” want him to stay in the race and only “the elite” want him out.
Biden has spent the past two weeks trying to counter the rising tide of anti-election sentiment, but polling since his disastrous debate with Trump shows he has failed to win over Democrats.
Schiff is one of two dozen Democratic lawmakers who have so far said Biden should step aside, including 19 House members and Vermont Sen. Peter Welch.
The avalanche of concerns about the president within his party eased somewhat last week after an assassination attempt on Trump, but the slow trickle of officials saying it’s time continues.
Democrats, meanwhile, will nominate Biden for re-election in a virtual roll call vote but will delay setting a date for the delegate vote after many Democrats raised objections to the planned process.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, co-chair of the party’s convention rules committee, was asked about the roll call, which is scheduled to take place Wednesday in Milwaukee. Walz said it must be done by the 15th of next month, but would not happen before Aug. 1.
The convention will be held from August 19 to 22 in Chicago.
