Minnesota’s Klobuchar and Smith raise concerns; Omar endorses Biden

WASHINGTON – President Biden has pushed back on public calls from Democrats for him to withdraw from the presidential race, but many lawmakers, including some from Minnesota, said the president has little time left to prove he can successfully run for re-election.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota). “Our democracy is at stake. The next week is critical, and this is the moment when the president must show the American people he can win.”

A dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Representative Angie Craig (D-2)^and District have publicly stated that Biden should resign or face loss to former President Donald Trump on Election Day. That assessment came after Biden’s dismal debate performance against his White House rival earlier this month.

But others, including Klobuchar, are willing to give Biden a little more time before publicly declaring that he should be replaced at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Senator Tina Smith said: “I have a lot of concerns, and I’m not the only one.”

“I can’t speak for all Minnesota voters, but I’ll tell you I’ve heard a lot of concerns,” Smith said. “I think we need to take the steps to focus on what it means to defeat Donald Trump.”

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House Democrats met behind closed doors on Tuesday morning and appeared dejected, largely avoiding reporters’ questions. Those who answered questions said they continued to support Biden.

“Ultimately, the voters chose Biden as their candidate, not us in a closed room,” said Democratic Rep. Lou Correa of ​​California.

Some Democratic members of Congress said privately that they did not want to call on Biden to drop out of the race without providing a detailed plan for how the Democratic Party would find a successor.

Biden sent a defiant letter to lawmakers on Monday after they returned from the July 4 recess, declaring that he had no intention of dropping out of the race and that any attempts to force him to resign were a distraction from his mission to defeat Trump.

“The question of how to proceed has been debated at length for over a week. And it is time to stop,” Biden wrote. “We have a job to do. And that is to defeat Donald Trump. … Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us.”

In his efforts to quell dissent, Biden has important allies.

His strongest defenders in the U.S. House of Representatives include progressive Democrats in safe districts, including members of the “Squad,” including Representative Ilhan Omar, a five-seat Democrat.^th District is a fierce critic of Biden’s Middle East policies and voted against some of the president’s previous initiatives, including a major infrastructure bill.

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“Biden will be our candidate and we support him,” Omar said late Monday.

Omar’s main opponent, Don Samuels, also said he fully supports Biden’s re-election efforts and said voters face a choice between “a resilient democracy and a looming autocracy.”

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-3rd District), who briefly entered the presidential campaign because of his concerns about a second term for Biden, broke his silence late Tuesday.

“If this was a satisfaction, then satisfaction has never been so unsatisfying,” he told reporters.

He also announced that he would issue a statement in the coming days announcing his position on whether Biden should continue to run as the Democratic presidential candidate.

“I am deeply disappointed in a political system that has led to the dynamics we are now facing,” Phillips said.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-4th District) did not comment on the situation this week. McCollum released a statement last week with similar sentiments to Smith and Klobuchar, saying Biden must “prove he is up to the job for the next four years.”

Biden may also be lucky that Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia’s attempt to organize a meeting with affected senators at the White House failed.

Senate Democrats were scheduled to meet for their regular luncheon on Tuesday afternoon, but so far not a single U.S. senator has publicly said Biden should drop out of the presidential race, although some, including Klobuchar and Smith, have expressed concerns.

Biden enjoys the support of top Democratic politicians in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. The president also received important support this week from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus.

Still, post-debate polls show Biden falling further behind Trump in key swing states. And some lawmakers on Tuesday mentioned an internal Democratic Party poll that found the party could lose as many as 20 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in November. Before the Biden-Trump debate, it seemed like the Democrats had a good chance of retaking the U.S. House of Representatives from Republican control.

On Tuesday, the New York Times published its second editorial calling on Biden to drop out of the race.

“(Democrats) need to tell (Biden) that he is embarrassing himself and jeopardizing his legacy,” the New York Times editorial board wrote. “He needs to hear loud and clear that he is no longer an effective spokesman for his own priorities.”

Updated to include comments from Dean Phillips.

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