With Case and Stanton, there are now 14 Democratic lawmakers publicly pressuring Biden to withdraw
Both emphasized the need for a candidate with a better chance of defeating Donald Trump in the November election.
Greg Stanton- Ed Case- U.S. House Office of Photography- Wikimedia Commons
More and more members of Congress are publicly opposing Joe Biden's candidacy. Following the presidential debate before Donald Trump, well-known Democratic opinion leaders began to see the Democratic nominee's chances in November slipping away. Although timidly at first, members of the House of Representatives began to join the call, understanding that Biden as head of the ticket would hurt Democrats nationally.
With Greg Stanton (D-AZ)and Ed Case (D-HI), there are now 14 Democrats in the lower House who publicly asked the president to step aside.
Stanton, the former mayor of Phoenix with some previous friction with the president over border security, spoke out on X and argued that too much is at stake to go with Biden as a candidate.
"I was one of President Biden's earliest supporters in 2020, and I'm proud of the progress we've made for Arizona. However the stakes in this election could not be higher. For our country's sake, it is time for the President to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders," Stanton wrote.
">I was one of President Biden's earliest supporters in 2020, and I'm proud of the progress we've made for Arizona.
— Greg Stanton (@gregstantonaz) July 11, 2024
However the stakes in this election could not be higher. For our country's sake, it is time for the President to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders. pic.twitter.com/KSX1jd0O6m
Case communicated his decision in an e-mail to his constituents, in which he clarified that this is purely an election issue: "This has nothing to do with his character and record. If it did, there would be no decision to make. This is solely about the future, about the President’s ability to continue in the most difficult job in the world for another four-year term."
"I cannot avoid the conclusion that that choice should be presented with another Democratic candidate. As to who that candidate should be, there are various paths to that decision. They are difficult and uncertain. But no more difficult and uncertain than the current path, nor any reason to stay on this path, which I do not believe is the best path forward for our country," Case added.
Case is usually considered one of the moderate Democrats. During his two terms as a congressman, the first from 2002 to 2007 and the second from 2019 to the present, he voted with Republicans to lower both the inheritance tax and the tax on investment income.
In 2005, he was the only Democrat to vote for an amendment that sought to eliminate funding for PBS, NPR and Planned Parenthood.
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