Democratic Congressman Adam Smith is calling for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race so Democrats can defeat Donald Trump in November and said he believes Vice President Kamala Harris would be a better choice.
Smith is the highest-ranking House member to speak out so far amid questions about the president’s fitness to serve a second term after his disastrous performance in last month’s debate.
“President Biden should end his bid for a second term as president and release his delegates to the Democratic National Convention to allow the party to nominate a new candidate for president,” Smith said in a statement Monday afternoon.
“This must happen as soon as possible to give the new party as much time as possible to make its case to the American people,” he continued.
Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) publicly called on Biden to step aside and said he believes Vice President Harris is a stronger candidate to beat Trump in a CNN interview
Smith argued that continuing his campaign would be a “mistake” and that dropping out of the race now would allow Democrats to find a candidate who would be “‘in the strongest possible position to defeat Donald Trump in November.’
Smith also appeared on CNN on Monday afternoon, where he asked Biden supporters to put aside their personal feelings toward the president. He told Jake Tapper that he thinks Harris is a better choice.
“I personally think Kamala Harris would be a much better and stronger candidate,” Smith said. “And since she is constitutionally his second lady, that’s how it’s supposed to work.”
He said that from the beginning they presented themselves as a team in these elections.
Smith also said Democrats have a strong record in their campaigns and praised the president’s first term, but expressed concern about not informing voters about that record.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on July 4, 2024
Smith is the highest-ranking House Democrat to call on Biden to step aside so far. He said Democrats have a strong record to rely on when campaigning, but the president is “not capable of delivering that message.”
“We have a good message,” Smith said. “The president has shown that he is not capable of delivering it effectively.”
Smith said there were concerns before the president’s debate, and the situation has not improved since. He criticized Biden, saying any “good debater” would have been able to answer Trump.
The Democratic lawmaker said Biden’s campaign strategy of staying quiet and falling in line isn’t working right now.
He also rejected Biden’s comments on MSNBC’s Morning Joe during a phone interview Monday morning that it was “elites” who were trying to oust him.
Smith argued that those people were the ones who put him in office in the first place. He noted that Biden lost Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada during the 2020 primaries, but there was a “national movement” to make him the nominee over Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Smith is one of a handful of Democrats in Congress calling for Biden to drop out of the presidential race. He first made his position that Biden should drop out known in a private call over the weekend with colleagues.
But on Monday, Biden sent a letter to members of Congress insisting he would remain in the 2024 race and vowing to defeat Trump.
“I wouldn’t run again if I didn’t absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024,” he wrote.