WASHINGTON (CN) — Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett on Tuesday became the first sitting congressional Democrat to call on President Joe Biden to bow out of the 2024 presidential race, pointing to the president’s debate performance as a tipping point for his campaign.
“Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang,” wrote Doggett in a statement. “President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024.”
The Texas lawmaker argued that Biden’s performance in last week’s debate against former President Donald Trump did not achieve the intended effect of kickstarting his campaign’s momentum.
“Instead of reassuring voters," Doggett said, "the president failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.”
Though the first presidential debate saw a lackluster performance by both candidates, Democrats panicked last week at Biden’s comparatively subdued display, prompting questions about whether the incumbent was up to the task of a second term in office.
While many lawmakers have continued to back Biden as Democrats’ best hope of defeating Trump in November, others have noted that questions about the president’s age and mental acuity are valid.
“He had a bad night,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Biden’s debate performance, but added that she thought it was a legitimate question to ask whether it was “an episode, or is this a condition?”
Pelosi, speaking Tuesday on MSNBC, said that the same question should apply to both Biden and Trump. She also said Biden was “masterful” in orchestrating several major pieces of legislation during his term, such as the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Vermont Senator Peter Welch in a Semafor interview criticized the Biden campaign for dismissing concerns about their candidate’s age, calling it “the reality that we’re in.”
But until Tuesday, no Democratic lawmakers had gone so far as to call on the president to step aside.
Doggett, invoking former President Lyndon Johnson’s decision not to seek reelection in 1968, said Biden has been a transformational president but now must choose to be “transitional.”
“He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process,” the Texas lawmaker said.
Doggett added that his calls on Biden to withdraw from the campaign did not affect his respect for the president or his accomplishments, arguing that Biden’s first commitment is to the country, not himself — unlike former President Trump.
“I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw,” the congressman said. “I respectfully call on him to do so.”
Doggett, whose Texas district includes the Democratic stronghold of Austin, is up for reelection in November, squaring off against Republican challenger Jenny Sharon. The Cook Political Report rates his seat as “Solid Democrat” with a 24-point advantage over the GOP. Doggett was most recently reelected in 2022 with almost 77% of the vote.
Democratic leadership, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Following his debate performance, Biden sought to reassure concerned supporters that he was up to the job.
During a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, just hours after the debate, the president gave a rousing speech in which he addressed questions about his age and mental aptitude.
“I know I’m not a young man,” Biden told the crowd. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know — I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong.”
Despite that, voter confidence in the president appears to be wavering. According to a Tuesday poll from CNN, three-quarters of Americans say Democrats have a better chance at winning the presidency in November with a candidate other than Biden.
In a matchup between Biden and Trump, the former president leads the incumbent by roughly six points, according to polling data. Vice President Kamala Harris, however, trails Trump by just around two points in a similar contest, putting her within the margin of error.
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