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More Democrats call for new nominee as Biden camp vows to stay the course
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More Democrats call for new nominee as Biden camp vows to stay the course

WASHINGTON — Ten more Democrats in Congress called on President Joe Biden to abandon his re-election bid on Friday, the highest number of votes in a single day since a poor debate performance shook confidence among some Democrats in his ability to win the November election.

The 10 Democrats entered the race on Friday, a day after former President Donald Trump formally accepted his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, bringing the total to 31 and increasing pressure on Biden to withdraw from the race.

While no member of the Democratic leadership in Congress has publicly called for Biden’s resignation, several prominent Democrats involved in the impeachment proceedings against Trump or in investigations into the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol have expressed concerns, citing the former president’s threat to democracy.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, who was the lead impeachment manager in Trump’s first impeachment trial, called on Biden to withdraw, saying in a statement that he had “serious concerns” about the president’s ability to win a second term.

And Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th), who served on the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, did not explicitly call on Biden to resign, but in a deeply personal letter urged the president to reconsider whether he should remain in the race for president.

Biden remained home in Delaware and had no public events planned after testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday night.

In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” early Friday, Biden campaign co-chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said the president “absolutely” remains in the race, even as a growing number of Democrats expressed discomfort about his ability to beat Trump.

“Absolutely, the president is in this race, you’ve heard him say it over and over again,” she said. “He’s the best person to take on Donald Trump.”

There were also reports on Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris, a potential replacement for Biden if he takes the unprecedented step of dropping out of a race less than four months before Election Day, would hold an afternoon phone call with top Democratic donors.

Harris did not respond to reporters’ questions during an appearance at a Washington ice cream parlor on Friday, according to a poolside report.

The 10 congressional Democrats who added their voices to those saying Biden should step aside include more senior members than had previously left the president’s ranks, Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune.

Reps. Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, Jesús “Chuy” Garcia of Illinois and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin jointly wrote an open letter to Biden and posted it on social media.

The quartet represents key constituencies in the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives.

Veasey is the first member of the influential Congressional Black Caucus, one of Biden’s staunchest Democratic supporters, to join the call for him to resign. He is also a member of the moderate New Democrat Coalition.

Pocan is co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And Garcia is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Reps. Greg Landsman of Ohio and Zoe Lofgren of California also issued statements of their own. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota told the Star Tribune newspaper that she wanted Biden to step aside and let Harris lead with Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate.

Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky posted a statement on X.

The calls came a day after Sen. Jon Tester, who is in a tough re-election race in Montana, said in a statement to the Daily Montanan that Biden should withdraw.

Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, one of the few Democrats who called on Biden to resign two weeks ago, expanded his perspective Friday in an op-ed in the Boston Globe , writing that when he went to Normandy in June to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the president didn’t recognize him despite their decade-long relationship.

“Of course, that can happen as anyone gets older, but as I watched the disastrous debate a few weeks ago, I have to admit that what I saw in Normandy was part of a deeper problem,” Moulton wrote. “It was a crushing realization, and not because someone I love was having a rough night, but because everything hinges on Biden’s ability to beat Donald Trump in November.”