President Joe Biden has faced a strong outcry from his own party for him to step down following the first presidential debate.
Some Democrats‘ concerns stretch beyond the presidential election. They fear that the president, who has sternly refused to withdraw, could help Republicans take the Senate and maintain the House if he stays on the 2024 ticket.
As it stands, Republicans are favored to win the Senate but the party will face much stiffer competition in the House, where Democrats are projected to prevail. But Biden’s inclusion on the ticket, given his recent unpopularity, could flip the odds in the GOP’s favor.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) has said he has gotten several hundred texts and emails about Biden’s age, none of them saying they wanted him to stay in the White House. “He also argued, we’re told, that both chambers of Congress would be lost with Biden in the race, a sentiment we’ve heard from most Democrats we’ve spoken to in the past week,” Politico reported.
Some Democrats have had to carefully watch their words concerning the president given his recent unpopularity among voters, indicated by polls that have former President Donald Trump ahead in multiple swing states, in likely fear that staunchly supporting him now may alienate some voters.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) mentioned that “the top of the ticket is very important for down-ballot races, especially in swing districts,” though reiterated his support for Biden in late June.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee released an ad in June linking Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), all running for the Senate in battleground states, to Biden’s abysmal debate performance. It appeared to be a clear attempt by Republicans to use the president’s stumbles as a weapon against Democrats who have supported him in the past.
“Senate Democrats have spent years propping up Joe Biden despite his obvious mental deficiencies; now the world can see he isn’t fit for the job. This disaster is on their hands,” Philip Letsou, spokesman for the NRSC, told the Associated Press.
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Tester has been more outspoken with his criticism of Biden and released a statement on Monday saying the president has to “prove” that he’s up to the job for another four years: “President Biden has got to prove to the American people—including me—that he’s up to the job for another four years. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to do what I’ve always done: Stand up to President Biden when he’s wrong and protect our Montana way of life.”
Biden has sternly said multiple times that he will remain in the race. He went on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and released a letter Monday professing his wishes to stay as the Democratic nominee.