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Representative Adam Smith has become the sixth House Democrat to call for Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race since last month’s election debate disaster– as the president continues to dig in.
The Washington lawmaker was reportedly among several committee ranking members who privately told House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries that Biden should bow out in a “brutal” two-hour call on Sunday.
The list – previously naming Smith – includes Jerrold Nadler, Mark Takano, Joseph Morelle, Susan Wild, and Jim Himes, three sources told CNN.
Now, Smith, 59, has decided to go public, declaring that he thinks Biden “should step aside”, adding that the White House’s “be quiet, fall in line” message isn’t working.
“I think it’s become clear that he’s not the best person to carry the Democratic message, he told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview on Monday.
“Here’s the thing, we have an incredibly strong message … the president has shown he is not capable of delivering that message,” Smith added.
Biden’s painful performance on the debate stage against Donald Trump on June 27, which at points saw him struggle to deliver a coherent response to his Republican rival, was a nail-in-the-coffin moment, Smith said.
However, the senior Democrat said that “there were concerns leading up to” the event about Biden’s ability to land a message, adding that it “hasn’t gotten better since then”.
While he didn’t explicitly address rumors surrounding the 81-year-old president’s cognitive decline that stemmed from the debate, Smith admitted that “there are the healthcare concerns”.
The damning call for Biden’s resignation landed just hours after he voiced his frustrations with “elites in the party” on MSNBC’s episode of Morning Joe. He goaded dissenting Democrats to run against him and “challenge me at the convention”, in August.
It comes after five House Democrats have publicly called for Biden to step down for his re-election bid including Texas’ Lloyd Doggett, Arizona’s Raul Grijalva, Massachusetts’ Seth Moulton, Illinois’ Mike Quigley and Minnesota’s Angie Craig.
Biden continues to fight for his political survival as he maintains that he will both run against – and beat – Trump when the electorate hits the polls in November.
Congressional Democrats received a two-page letter from the president on Monday as he tried to quell the uprising among senior party members.
Sharing on his Twitter/X account, Biden declared that he is “firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump”.
The president will hope that this week’s Nato summit will offer a reprieve and allow him to move forward with his campaign.
