4 senior Democrats call for Biden to leave presidential race; one plans to go public with concerns

WASHINGTON – A number of senior House Democrats said President Joe Biden should step down as their party's 2024 White House nominee on a private phone call Sunday afternoon, multiple media reported on Sunday.

At least one House member plans to go public on Monday with his concerns about Biden, according to an aide who was not authorized to speak publicly. One source told USA TODAY that House members’ concerns relate to Biden’s ability to handle the presidency for the next four years.

Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York, Adam Smith of Washington, Mark Takano of California and Joe Morelle of New York, all said the 81-year-old Biden should exit the presidential race against Donald Trump during the call for committee ranking members organized by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., according to the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, NBC News, CNN and others.

Nadler is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Smith on the Armed Services Committee, Takano on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Morelle on the Administration Committee.

All of those lawmakers are the top Democrats on House committees. The call was held by House Democratic leadership and was attended by other top Democrats ahead of when lawmakers return to Washington on Monday for a critical week with mounting questions over whether Biden should be serving in the White House now, that he can beat former President Trump in November and then run the country for four more years until 2029, when he'd be 86.

Five other House Democrats have publicly called on the president to step aside from the 2024 race: Reps. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Seth Moulton, D-Mass., Mike Quigley, D-Ill., Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Angie Craig, D-Minn.

Democrats have in public and private been discussing concerns about Biden’s fitness to serve and his presidential candidacy after his shaky June 27 debate performance against Trump. The president has been adamant he will stay in the race but a small, growing number of elected Democrats over the past few days have called on the president to hand off his spot atop the November ticket.

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, issued a statement after media reports about Sunday's party leadership call saying he “will continue doing all I can to support the Biden-Harris campaign in Virginia and across the country.”

Biden sat for an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Friday in a bid to assuage concerns but Democrats still have concerns about the president's mental fitness and capacity to keep doing his job. House Democrats are expected to meet in a regular caucus meeting on Tuesday morning where a certain topic of discussion will be Biden and the 2024 presidential election.

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Four senior Democrats say Biden should quit 2024 race against Trump