--- title: More Senior Democrats Call on Biden to Step Aside: Reports description: Jerrold Nadler, Mark Takano, Adam Smith, and Joe Morelle privately said the U.S. President should leave the 2024 race, U.S. media reported. canonical: https://time.com/6995733/democrats-biden-us-election/ author: Anna Gordon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-07-08T12:52:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:44:11.508Z article:section: Politics og:title: More Senior Democrats Call on Biden to Step Aside: Reports og:description: Jerrold Nadler, Mark Takano, Adam Smith, and Joe Morelle privately said the U.S. President should leave the 2024 race, U.S. media reported. og:url: https://time.com/6995733/democrats-biden-us-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt754b214a0add0c32/698a5884e6e84a38982b3216/biden-senior-democrats-call-for-resignation.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Biden Arrives In Harrisburg For Campaign Event og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: More Senior Democrats Call on Biden to Step Aside: Reports twitter:description: Jerrold Nadler, Mark Takano, Adam Smith, and Joe Morelle privately said the U.S. President should leave the 2024 race, U.S. media reported. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt754b214a0add0c32/698a5884e6e84a38982b3216/biden-senior-democrats-call-for-resignation.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # More Senior Democrats Join Call for Biden to Step Aside, Reports Say > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=54086b9b-61e4-4204-8045-fcc4a1e3f047&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Biden Tells Hill Democrats He ‘Declines’ to Step Aside [Watch (HLS stream): Biden Tells Hill Democrats He ‘Declines’ to Step Aside](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5fw45oWN.m3u8) (3:20)  _Published 2024-07-08. President Joe Biden, in a letter to congressional Democrats, stood firm against calls for him to drop his candidacy and called for an “end” to the intraparty drama that has torn apart Democrats since his dismal public debate performance._ by [Anna Gordon](https://time.com/author/anna-gordon/) ## Anna Gordon Gordon was a reporter for TIME, based in the London bureau. Jul 8, 2024 12:52 PM UTC President Joe Biden, in a letter to congressional Democrats, stood firm against calls for him to drop his candidacy and called for an “end” to the intraparty drama that has torn apart Democrats since his dismal public debate performance. by [Anna Gordon](https://time.com/author/anna-gordon/) ## Anna Gordon Gordon was a reporter for TIME, based in the London bureau. Jul 8, 2024 12:52 PM UTC Multiple House Democrats joined calls for President Joe Biden to hand over his candidacy for the U.S. election to another candidate during a private meeting on Sunday with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, according to U.S. media [reports](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-campaign-battleground-pennsylvania-democrats-mull-his-candidacy-2024-07-07/). During the Zoom [call](https://time.com/6995618/biden-drop-out-democrats/), promoted as a “listening session” by Jeffries, senior Democrats discussed possible ways to convince Biden that he should step aside in the aftermath of a debate performance that was widely criticized and labeled as a “bad night” by Biden himself. **Read More:** [_Inside Biden’s Debate Disaster_ ](https://time.com/6993760/joe-biden-debate-disaster-democratic-panic/) According to reports by [CBS](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-2024-race-senior-house-democrats-step-aside/) and the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/07/us/biden-trump-election), the House Democrats that said Biden should leave the race included Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, who serves as the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee; Rep. Mark Takano of California, who serves as the ranking member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee; Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, who serves as the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance; and Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, who serves as the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration. Other representatives on the call also expressed skepticism about the President’s chances of winning a second election against former President Donald Trump, according to both outlets. The Associated Press [reported](https://apnews.com/article/biden-campaigning-pennsylvania-democratic-doubts-election-77b050b1c5c39aec2ef633281d082566) that Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who serves as the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, also voiced support for Biden to step aside. The New York Times and CBS reported, however, that Himes expressed concern for Biden’s electoral chances but did not say he called for the President to make way for another candidate. (TIME has reached out to Himes for comment.) **Read More:** [_‘I’m in This Race to the End’: Biden Digs His Heels as Calls to Drop Out Grow Louder_](https://time.com/6994944/joe-biden-drop-out-kamala-polls/) The news comes as concerns about Biden’s mental fitness in the aftermath of the June 27 debate performance mount. [At least five Democratic lawmakers](https://apnews.com/article/biden-2024-election-abc-debate-age-trump-25a863ba1ca3d6d01d8cc69a61274321) have publicly stated that the 81-year-old Biden should not seek a second term as President. The Biden campaign has rejected calls to step aside. “I'm not letting one 90-minute debate wipe out three and a half years of work,” the President [posted on X](https://x.com/JoeBiden/status/1809317737556222075) last week. “I'm staying in the race, and I will beat Donald Trump.” A poll conducted in August 2023 by The Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Research found that [69% of Democrats said Biden was too old](https://apnews.com/article/biden-age-poll-trump-2024-620e0a5cfa0039a6448f607c17c7f23e) to serve effectively for another four years. ## Transcript [00:00] I have probably heard had a little debate last week. [00:04] Kant's Hare is my best performance. We love. [00:08] But ever since then, there's been a lot of speculation. [00:11] What's Joe gonna do? Is he gonna stay in the race? [00:16] Is he gonna drop out? What's he gonna do? Well, here's my answer. [00:20] I am running and gonna win again. [00:23] By the way, if you wonder whether Trump has it altogether. [00:26] Did you ever hear how he explained 4 July? [00:29] When he was present? No, I'm serious. This is true. [00:32] There's explanation how America won the Revolutionary War? [00:36] I'm not making this up. He said in his fourth of July speech five years ago. [00:41] He said, George Washington's Army [00:44] won the Revolution by taking control of the airports from the British. [00:51] To talk about me, miss Speaking, [00:53] I keep seeing all those stories about I'm being too old. [00:56] Let me say something. I was too old. [01:00] I wasn't too old I wasn't too old to create over 15 million new jobs. [01:05] To make sure 21 million Americans are insured under the Affordable Care Act. [01:11] To be big farmer, the first f ever do that, [01:15] lower the cost in $35 for C. Was there too old to relieve student [01:22] definitely 5 million Americans in gross in [01:25] C. To old to [01:29] put the first Black woman on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. [01:32] Trump is a convicted felon. [01:36] Found guilty, 34 felonies. [01:40] Up. [01:40] Trying to hide Hush money payments to a porn star. [01:44] Another jury found Trump sexually assaulted a woman in a public place, [01:48] and has been fined $90,000,000 for defene her. $90 million. [01:54] I've only been bank up about 20 times, but I don't know. [01:57] This so called great businessman owes over $400,000,000 [02:02] in fines after being convicted in New York State of business fraud, already convicted. [02:08] But Trump's biggest lie of all he had nothing to do with the insurrection of January 6. [02:14] We all saw with our own eyes. [02:16] We saw he sent thousands to attack the Capitol. [02:20] We saw police being attacked, capitol being ransacked. [02:24] The mob hunting for Nancy Pelosi. [02:28] Gallows set up to hang Mike Pence. Let me ask you something. [02:36] After a Trump did on January 6, [02:39] why would anyone ever let him be near the O val office again? [02:44] Ultimately, the American Presidency is about character. [02:48] The character of the president who holds the job. [02:51] Yes. Because with the immunity he's talked the Supreme Court just talked about. [02:56] It gets down to that. Gets down to that. It's about honesty. [03:01] It's about the President's decency. [03:04] Yeah. [03:04] Integrity. Do they respect people? [03:07] Or do they incite violence in hate? [03:10] Can they honor the oath of the Constitution and hold their oath of office? [03:14] Well, I don't think it's an exaggeration yes. [03:16] Trump has failed on every one of these character tests. 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