Over the past week, calls have grown louder for President Joe Biden to step down because the Democratic Party's likely nominee, and now certainly one of the Bay Area's most distinguished Democrats, Representative Zoe Lofgren, is speaking out.
Concerns about Biden's probabilities of success in November arose after his weak performance on the presidential debate on June 27. Since then, greater than two dozen Democratic members of Congress have called on the president to place his re-election effort on hold, including several members of the California delegation akin to Reps. Adam Schiff, Mike Levin and Scott Peters, all of whom represent the southern a part of the state.
But through a Letter dated 18 July In an email to the president this week, Lofgren became the primary member of Congress from the Bay Area to directly ask Biden to reconsider his candidacy as a Democrat.
In the letter, Lofgren praised the president for his “policy accomplishments that have benefited the American people” and said she respected his “life's work in public service.” But the poll results, she noted, weren’t in his favor and put him “on a slippery slope to losing the White House and potentially influencing crucial elections in the House and Senate.”
“As a member of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, I know perhaps as well as anyone how unfit Donald Trump is to be president,” Lofgren wrote. “His policies are wrong. His character is unprincipled and corrupt. He remains as great a threat to constitutional order and the rule of law as he was on January 6, 2021, when he incited the insurrection. And if he is re-elected president, he will undo everything the Democrats have accomplished for the American people.”
If Biden ultimately accepts the nomination on the Democratic National Convention next month, Lofgren said she’s going to “do everything she can to promote her candidacy.”
David McCuan, a political scientist at Sonoma State University, said Lofgren's support of calls for Biden's resignation was significant because she is a “heavyweight” within the Democratic Party. Lofgren, 76, took office in 1995, but her time on Capitol Hill stretches back to the Seventies, when she worked for the late Rep. Don Edwards throughout the impeachment trial of President Richard Nixon.
“Her role, her weight and her influence among Democrats are significant,” McCuan said. “She's also a very practical politician and she wants to be in a place where she can get things done, especially as she nears the end of her career.”
McCuan said that Lofgren, like Schiff, could be very near former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. who has reportedly privately expressed his concerns about Biden.
“The previous speaker would have known this was coming,” McCuan said.
Other California Democrats joined Lofgren's call on Friday. Rep. Jared Huffman, whose district includes parts of Marin, Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte counties, released a joint statement with Reps. Marc Veasey (D-TX), Chuy Garcia (D-IL) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) calling on Biden to “pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders.”
“We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy, protect our alliances and the rules-based international order, and continue to build on the strong foundation you have laid over the past four years,” the lawmakers said. “At this point, however, we must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing a campaign that was designed to succeed.”
Representative Jim Costa, whose district includes parts of the San Joaquin Valley, also called on Biden this week to reconsider his candidacy.
“I'm proud of the work we've done to pass groundbreaking legislation that will result in the first real investments in our communities in decades,” Costa said. “But for the good of the country, I think it's time for the President to pass the torch to the next generation to continue the legacy he started.”
However, Biden's campaign team has dismissed all calls for Biden to drop out.
“You have heard time and time again directly from the President: He will win this campaign, he is our nominee and he will be our President for a second term,” campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a press release.
Bill James, chairman of the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee, said he has heard of local Democrats' concerns and fears because the June debate. The local party, he said, has kept away from commenting since it is a call “made by party leaders at the highest levels.”
“I think the decision will be made collaboratively and President Biden will largely hold the reins because he has the delegates he has pledged to the convention,” James said.
However, regarding Lofgren's position, he said: “If anyone in Democratic politics has the right to publicly express their opinion on the question of whether or not President Biden should resign, it is Representative Lofgren.”
Originally published:
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