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Top Democrat demanding Biden resignation delivers blunt message…and reveals who should replace him

Top Democrat demanding Biden resignation delivers blunt message…and reveals who should replace him

By Sarah Ewall-wice, senior U.S. political reporter on Capitol Hill

22:58 08 Jul 2024, updated 00:26 09 Jul 2024



Democratic Congressman Adam Smith is calling on President Joe Biden to withdraw from 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 member of the House to speak publicly yet, as questions mount about the president’s fitness for a second term following 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 presidential candidate,” Smith said in a statement Monday afternoon.

“This needs to happen as soon as possible to give the new ticket the maximum amount of time to make its case to the American people,” he continued.

Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) publicly called on Biden to step down and said he believes Vice President Harris is a stronger candidate to beat Trump in a CNN interview

Smith argued that continuing Biden’s campaign would be a “mistake” and that leaving the race now would allow Democrats to find a candidate who would be ““We are in the best possible position to beat Donald Trump in November.”

Smith also appeared on CNN Monday afternoon, where he asked Biden supporters to put aside their personal feelings about the president. He told Jake Tapper that he thinks Harris is a better option.

“I personally think Kamala Harris would be a much better and stronger candidate,” Smith said. “And since she’s constitutionally his second candidate, that’s the way it should be.”

He said they competed as a team in this election from the beginning.

Smith also said Democrats have a strong record to build on and praised the president’s first term, but expressed concerns about the need to inform voters of that record.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on July 4, 2024
Smith is the highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives to call on Biden to step down so far. He said Democrats have a strong record to fight on, 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 able to deliver it effectively.”

Smith said the concerns were raised before the president’s debate performance, and the situation has not improved since. He blasted Biden, saying any “good debater” could have responded to Trump.

The Democratic lawmaker said Biden’s campaign strategy of staying quiet and conforming is not working right now.

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He also pushed back on comments Biden made during a phone interview Monday morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that it was “elites” who were trying to oust him.

Smith argued that these people were the ones who put him in office. He pointed out that Biden lost Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada in the 2020 primaries, but that there was a “national movement” to make him the primary candidate against Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Smith is among the few Democrats in Congress calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race. He first made his position on Biden’s withdrawal known during a private call with his colleagues over the weekend.

But on Monday, Biden sent a letter to members of Congress insisting he would remain in the race for 2024 and pledging to defeat Trump.

“I would not run again if I were not absolutely convinced that I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024,” he wrote.