Texas Congressman calls on Biden to step down

Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, a Democrat, has called on President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, citing concerns about Biden’s recent debate performance and the need to prevent a potential Trump victory.

Doggett praised Biden’s past achievements but emphasized the necessity of prioritizing the preservation of democracy over individual ambitions.

“President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump. I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said.

Doggett noted that he hopes Biden “will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw” from the 2024 race for the White House.

“Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang,” he added. “Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory – too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now.”

“President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024,” he added.

“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same,” he said. “While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional.”

Drawing parallels to former President Lyndon Johnson’s decision not to seek re-election, Doggett suggested that Biden should pave the way for new leadership in the party.

Amid calls for Biden’s resignation, Democrats such as Rep. James Clyburn have mentioned their support for Vice President Kamala Harris as a possible alternative nominee.

Doggett said Biden “has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process.”

“My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved. Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so,” he added.

“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden said.

“Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he said. “But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down you get back up.”

“The cowards in the Democratic Caucus have spent every day after the debate in witness protection, too afraid to say what they’re all thinking,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Jack Pandol stated.

“Americans remember House Democrats were complicit in covering up and gaslighting the public about the president’s condition, and voters are primed to punish them in November,” Pandol added.