Front-line Michigan Democrat calls on Biden to step aside as nominee

Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) joined nine of her colleagues in calling on President Joe Biden to withdraw from the race as the Democratic presidential nominee.

“For the good of our democracy, I believe it is time for him to step aside from the presidential race and allow a new leader to step up,” Scholten said in a statement to X on Thursday.

Scholten, whose seat leans “likely Democrat” but is a part of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Frontline program, is the 10th House lawmaker to call on the president to step aside and allow Democrats to select a new nominee.

Similar to many of her colleagues, including those who have not publicly called on Biden to withdraw, Scholten said, “Ultimately, this choice belongs to the president and the president alone.”

“I will respect his decision if he chooses to remain in the race, and I will still vote for him as a clear and necessary alternative to Donald Trump, who would sow chaos and destruction if he were to return to the Oval Office,” she added.

“We must have a standard bearer who will fight morning, noon, and night for our civil and voting rights and unite the free world against the rising tide of authoritarianism,” Scholten said. “Joe Biden has been that leader for so long. But this is not about the past. It’s about the future. It’s time to pass the torch.”

Scholten joins Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Angie Craig (D-MN), Adam Smith (D-WA), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), and Pat Ryan (D-NY) in publicly calling on the president to step aside. Ryan, Sherrill, and Scholten are the first three House members to call on Biden to withdraw since the caucus held a meeting at the DCCC on Tuesday, from which lawmakers left divided over Biden’s political future.

Eyes will look to more congressional Democrats on Thursday to see if additional members call on Biden to withdraw from the race, particularly as the president plans to hold a press conference with reporters this evening.

Many Democrats have either publicly or privately shared concerns about Biden’s candidacy, with many resorting to saying it’s “Biden’s decision.” The president has repeatedly stated in private and public settings that he will run in the 2024 election.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), for one, appears to be inching closer to calling on Biden to allow a new nominee to take his place. He slammed his colleagues in a statement Monday for casting doubt on the strength of Biden’s reelection bid, calling it “deeply self-destructive.”

On Wednesday, Torres sounded the alarm on how Biden’s nomination could affect down-ballot races as Democrats are striving to maintain a majority in the Senate and take back the House.

Torres said Thursday he will “respectfully listen” to the press conference tonight and Biden’s interview with NBC News on Monday, “but the ability to survive a single public appearance is the bare minimum of what should be expected of a Democratic Nominee.”

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“The narrative that the President simply had one bad debate performance reflects a continuing pattern of denial and self-delusion,” Torres said. “The President did not just have one ‘bad debate.’ The reality we saw with our own lying eyes is evidence of a deeper challenge. The notion that the President is going to be saved by this interview or that press conference misses the forest for trees.”

“If the President formally becomes the Democratic nominee, we will have no choice but to make the best of a complicated situation,” Torres continued. “But there is no point in denying the complications.”