Texas’ Lloyd Doggett Is The First Democrat To Call For Biden’s Withdrawal

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett from Austin has become the first Democrat in Congress to publicly call for President Joe Biden to step down as the party’s nominee for the presidential race after his performance at the debate against former President Donald Trump.

“Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory—too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now,” Doggett, 77, wrote in the statement. “I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”

The statement comes as more Democrats are reported to be worried about Biden’s performance at the debate, where he continually halted and seemed to lose his train of thought. 

While other democrats have remained silent about Biden withdrawing from the race, some have acknowledged his bad performance at the presidential debate. 

“It wasn’t a good performance,” U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, said. “I don’t think that anybody’s going to say that it was a good performance. It certainly was not.”

In his statement, Doggett thanked Biden for his achievements, but said that defeating Trump must be the Democrat’s maximum goal.

“President Biden has achieved so much for our country at home and abroad. Stepping out to lead a Nation in crisis, President Biden helped rebuild our country from the devastation of a pandemic, an insurrection, and years of Trump wreckage,” he wrote. 

According to the Texas Tribune, if Biden decided to withdraw, Democrats would have to choose a new candidate at the national convention in Chicago this August.

Axios reported that the Biden campaign didn’t respond to Doggett’s comments but referred to a past statement from a spokesperson campaign Mia Ehrenber that Biden “is absolutely not dropping out.”

At a rally stage in North Carolina, Biden admitted his weak performance at the debate.

“I don’t walk as easily 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,” he said.