President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman High School on July 5, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
President Joe Biden played down Democratic concerns about his 2024 re-election bid against former President Donald Trump during a much-anticipated ABC News interview on Friday night, his first televised interview since his appearance on the debate in June.
On Saturday, House Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., formally called on Biden to bow out of the presidential race.
“This is not a decision I made lightly, but there is simply too much at stake to risk a second Donald Trump presidency,” Craig told statement Saturday morning. “That’s why I respectfully call on President Biden to step down as the Democratic nominee for a second term as President and allow a new generation of leaders to step forward.”
Craig is now the fifth House Democrat to call on Biden to step down. Rep. Mike QuigleyD-Il., made his own announcement during a Interview on MSNBC Friday, shortly before the full 22-minute ABC News interview aired.
They join a growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers, donors and strategists who are losing faith in Biden’s ability to run a successful campaign against Trump. Reps. Lloyd Doggett, D-Tx. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz. and Seth Moulton, D-Mass. they have also publicly called on Biden to resign.
“The president is rightly proud of his record,” he said David Axelrod, who served as a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, after the interview aired on ABC News. “But he’s dangerously out of touch with people’s concerns about his own [capacities] his position in this race is moving forward.”
Earlier this week, former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jim Clyburn, some of Biden’s closest allies, publicly acknowledged concerns about Biden’s eligibility for re-election. Pelosi, for example, said it was “legitimate” to question whether Biden’s performance in the debate was just an isolated episode or represented a longer-term condition.
Both Pelosi and Clyburn indicated they still support the president as he seeks a second term.
Jeffreys meeting on Sunday
While the list of Democrats coming forward with misgivings about Biden grows, much of the panic is occurring behind closed doors.
Several Democratic lawmakers and their staff spoke anonymously to NBC News Friday night and Saturday morning, doubling down on their concerns about Biden even after the ABC News interview.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is working to set up a mock meeting Sunday with members of the Democratic nominating committee, where Biden will likely be a topic of discussion. NBC News mentionted.
On the other side of the Capitol, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is trying to convene a meeting of Democratic senators next week to talk about concerns about Biden’s re-election and the impact it could have on the election contests, according to the NBC News Report.
Loss of donor support
Meanwhile, the The donor class is raising its own alarm bells for Biden.
“We must overcome the gerontocracy!!” CEO of Galaxy Michael Novogratz, a crypto billionaire and Democratic donor, posted on social media Saturday morning. “We need to wipe the floor of the team that has been in charge for the last 30 years and pass the reigns!! It’s about time.”
Novogratz previously endorsed the campaign of longtime opponent Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., before dropping out of the race.
But Novogratz is part of a growing wave of Democratic donors shedding support for Biden. Some of them, like Disney heiress Abigail Disney, have embargoed their future donations to the party until the president drops out of the race, CNBC previously reported.
A flurry of polls including from the New York Times/Siena College and Wall Street Journal found Biden losing ground to Trump after his June 27 debate failure. His debating performance is mostly remembered for moments where he stumbled over his words, occasionally failed to string together coherent sentences, or spontaneously stopped mid-answer, appearing to collect his thoughts.
“It was a bad episode. No sign of anything serious. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my gut about preparation and a bad night,” Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos during the Friday interview.
The president added firmly that he has no plans to drop out of the 2024 race.
“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I would get out of the race,” Biden said. “But the Lord Almighty does not come down.”
