Rep. Adam Schiff has reportedly become the most prominent Democrat to publicly call on Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
According to media reports, leading U.S. Democratic leaders, including Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi, have expressed concerns about President Joe Biden’s ability to win the November election.
ABC News reported Wednesday that Senate Minority Leader Schumer and House Minority Leader Jeffries had told the 81-year-old Biden to drop out of the race.
ABC, citing sources close to both men, reported that Schumer had a “direct conversation” with the president in Delaware on Saturday, urging him “to step aside in the 2024 race.”
ABC, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Hakim also expressed similar views directly to Biden, suggesting that he should step down from the race.
According to CNN, former House Speaker Pelosi told Biden in a recent phone call that polls show he cannot beat his rival Donald Trump and that if he continues to seek a second term, it could ruin Democrats’ chances of winning the House in November.
The broadcast cited four sources briefed on the phone call.
But CNN reported that it had no sources who told Pelosi whether she thought the president should resign.
As California Rep. Adam Schiff becomes the most high-profile Democrat to publicly call on Biden to drop out of the race, a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that two-thirds of Democrats nationwide want the president to step down and nominate someone else.
Schumer’s office responded to reports of a meeting with the president with a statement calling it “unfounded speculation” and saying the Senate Democratic leader “expressed his team’s views directly to President Biden on Saturday.”
Pelosi’s press secretary told CNN the former speaker has not spoken to Biden since Friday.
White House press secretary Andrew Bates said Biden told Schumer and Jeffries, “He is the party’s nominee, he plans to win, and he looks forward to working with them to pass a 100-day agenda to help working families.”
Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, has repeatedly rejected calls from Democrats to drop out of the race after his poor performance in last month’s debate with Trump.
He said in a recent interview that only “the Almighty” could persuade him to drop out of the race.
The White House said the president is currently self-isolating in Delaware but will “continue to faithfully perform his duties.”
The White House said Biden was experiencing “mild symptoms” and “general malaise” due to his infection.
Arshad Hassan, a Democratic political strategist and founder of Convey Communications, told Al Jazeera there was “mockery” coming from all levels of the party and within it about the president’s possible election.
“As Democrats, we know the stakes are enormous,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The contrast between the visions that these two candidates are putting forth could not be greater, could not be more stark. Four years of Trump, it was a disaster: a pandemic, unrest in the streets, a terrible economy, and then four years of Biden, we have the greatest growth and recovery this country has ever seen,” he said in Los Angeles.
“So the contrast is not just with the economy, but with the future of the democratic society that we believe in. Because the stakes are so high, people are very concerned about whether we will win or not, and they are very sensitive to our chances.”
