Five more House Democrats on Friday joined the growing number of congressional lawmakers who have called on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 election. 

In a joint statement, Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Marc Veasey, D-Texas, Chuy Garcia, D-Illinois and Marc Pocan, D-Wisc., urged Biden to ‘pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders.’ 

‘Mr. President, with great admiration for you personally, sincere respect for your decades of public service and patriotic leadership, and deep appreciation for everything we have accomplished together during your presidency, it is now time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders,’ the lawmakers wrote. 

‘We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy, protect our alliances and the rules-based international order, and continue building on the strong foundation you have established over the past four years,’ they said.

‘At this point, however, we must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign. These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened in the aftermath of last month’s debate and are now unlikely to change. We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do in this moment is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House.’

Veasey is the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus, a group that has strongly backed Biden, to call for the president to step aside. 

A fifth House Democrat, Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, separately urged Biden to drop out in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune. 

‘It’s time for Joe Biden to pass the torch,’ Casten wrote.

‘[P]olitics, like life, isn’t fair. And as long as this election is instead litigated over which candidate is more likely to be held accountable for public gaffes and ‘senior moments,’ I believe that Biden is not only going to lose but is also uniquely incapable of shifting that conversation.’

Additionally, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., on Friday called on Biden to suspend his presidential campaign. He is now the third Democratic senator to do so. 

‘While the decision to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is in the best interests of our country for him to step aside,’ Heinrich said in a statement. 

There are now 28 Congressional Democrats who have called on Biden to step aside. That number represents more than 10% of elected Democrats in Congress. 

Behind the scenes, more and more Democratic party officials, top donors and key Biden allies are reportedly urging the president to reconsider his decision to stay in the race. Should Biden drop out ahead of the Democratic National Committee convention in August, Vice President Kamala Harris is acknowledged to be in the best position to receive the party’s nomination — although some Democrats fear she would also lose to Trump, and prefer that a candidate unaffiliated with the current administration be nominated in an open convention.

Biden has made no public indication that he intends to step aside, and his campaign has forcefully denied all suggestions to the contrary. 

‘Absolutely the president is in this race, you’ve heard him say that time and again,’ Biden Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said Friday on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.’ 

‘I’m not here to say this hasn’t been a tough several weeks for the campaign, there’s no doubt that it has been, and we’ve definitely seen some slippage in support. But it has been a small movement.’

Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic Party commission seem prepared to make Joe Biden an offer he can’t refuse: One way or another, he’s dropping out of this race, they say, either with his consent or with his legacy destroyed.

Just when Biden thought his candidacy was safe, after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump quieted talk of a swap at the top of the ticket, they pulled him back in, and now the pundits tell us that his campaign won’t survive the weekend. We’ll see.

For the bosses of the Democrat family, ending Biden’s political career is a three-step process. First they ask him to leave, then they tell him to leave, and finally they threaten to destroy him if he won’t wise up. We are almost at step three.

The advantages of step one are very clear. Had Biden selflessly and magnanimously put his own interests aside for the betterment of the party, if not the country, by dropping out, he might have seen the kind of double-digit approval bounce Lyndon Baines Johnson got in 1968. That boost would accrue to the benefit of the new candidate, likely Kamala Harris.

Likewise, he would secure his legacy as the caretaker president who saved the nation from the evils of the Trump Family and bestowed power upon the new, young generation. 

That ship has sailed now, and we are squarely on step two. But Biden has already rejected team Obama when they told him, ‘that’s a nice legacy you got there. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’

The threats from the editorial boards of The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, the consiglieres of the Democratic Party, have been ignored by an obstinate sitting president who for some reason, thinks he’s in charge.

Now Biden seems poised to wake up with a bloody equine head in his bed, and the Democrats have no shortage of horses to choose from. 

Perhaps the tape of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur will be released. If the audio wasn’t humiliating to Biden, we would have it already, so not for nothing, it can’t be good. Attorney General Merrick Garland could have a sudden change of heart. These things happen.

Then there is his prodigal son, Hunter, who hopes to beat the rap and go legit with his art career. If Joe declines to run, there is no reason he can’t pardon the family Fredo, especially after the election, win or lose.

Finally, there is the 25th amendment, the ultimate play, in which Democrats would remove Biden from office, his legacy in tatters. He would be the only president ever kicked out of office for losing his marbles.

Basically, the Democrats have politely asked Joe, Jill and Hunter to leave the establishment. Soon the door will lock, and they will hear the words, ‘now youse can’t leave,’ before the punches start flying.

So the Democrats don’t lack the cards to get Joe off the ticket, but at the same time, the big guy is not without his own moves. If he chooses not to go gently into the night, if he refuses to endorse Kamala Harris, then the Dems have a whole new contested convention headache.

Biden could also flip and turn state’s evidence, spilling tea on the Democrat’s family secrets, essentially burning down the party trying to throw him under the bus.

No, this is still up to Joe, even if he is mumbling and drooling as he stumbles around in his bathrobe. He is still the boss for now, and if an attempt to topple him fails, the Bidens will be taking care of all the family business.

And if you think that isn’t possible, I’d ask you, now who’s being naive?

The next few days will prove decisive, as Biden’s enemies reveal themselves. Can Joe Biden still hang on? Even win? Yeah, he can, and hell hath no fury like a boss betrayed.

Will Joe leave the presidency and take the cannolis? We will know soon, and either way, it could change everything in the race just three months from the finish line.

Five more House Democrats on Friday joined the growing number of congressional lawmakers who have called on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 election. 

In a joint statement, Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Marc Veasey, D-Texas, Chuy Garcia, D-Illinois and Marc Pocan, D-Wisc., urged Biden to ‘pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders.’ 

‘Mr. President, with great admiration for you personally, sincere respect for your decades of public service and patriotic leadership, and deep appreciation for everything we have accomplished together during your presidency, it is now time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders,’ the lawmakers wrote. 

‘We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy, protect our alliances and the rules-based international order, and continue building on the strong foundation you have established over the past four years,’ they said.

‘At this point, however, we must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign. These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened in the aftermath of last month’s debate and are now unlikely to change. We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do in this moment is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House.’

Veasey is the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus, a group that has strongly backed Biden, to call for the president to step aside. 

A fifth House Democrat, Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, separately urged Biden to drop out in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune. 

‘It’s time for Joe Biden to pass the torch,’ Casten wrote.

‘[P]olitics, like life, isn’t fair. And as long as this election is instead litigated over which candidate is more likely to be held accountable for public gaffes and ‘senior moments,’ I believe that Biden is not only going to lose but is also uniquely incapable of shifting that conversation.’

Additionally, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., on Friday called on Biden to suspend his presidential campaign. He is now the third Democratic senator to do so. 

‘While the decision to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is in the best interests of our country for him to step aside,’ Heinrich said in a statement. 

There are now 28 Congressional Democrats who have called on Biden to step aside. That number represents more than 10% of elected Democrats in Congress. 

Behind the scenes, more and more Democratic party officials, top donors and key Biden allies are reportedly urging the president to reconsider his decision to stay in the race. Should Biden drop out ahead of the Democratic National Committee convention in August, Vice President Kamala Harris is acknowledged to be in the best position to receive the party’s nomination — although some Democrats fear she would also lose to Trump and prefer that a candidate unaffiliated with the current administration be nominated in an open convention.

Biden has made no public indication that he intends to step aside, and his campaign has forcefully denied all suggestions to the contrary. 

‘Absolutely the president is in this race, you’ve heard him say that time and again,’ Biden Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said Friday on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.’ 

‘I’m not here to say this hasn’t been a tough several weeks for the campaign, there’s no doubt that it has been, and we’ve definitely seen some slippage in support. But it has been a small movement.’

Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

With President Biden’s future uncertain, a majority of Democrats say the country would be in good hands if his vice president were to take over the White House. 

A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about six in 10 Democrats believe that Vice President Kamala Harris would do a good job as president herself. About two in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another two in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

The survey comes as an increasing number of Democratic officials are publicly urging Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election after his disastrous debate performance on June 27. Democratic officials are worried that voters don’t believe that the 81-year-old president is capable of performing his duties, and many have suggested that Harris or another candidate would fare better against the Republican nominee, former President Trump. 

Recent polls show Democratic voters have soured on Biden as well. A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of Massachusetts residents found that 64% of likely Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters want someone other than Biden to face off against Trump. The AP-NORC national survey likewise found that 65% of Democrats say Biden should drop out of the race. 

While Harris is the focus of several insider discussions for a plan B ticket, the vice president has maintained strong public support for Biden and defended him from slings and arrows thrown by panicked party officials speaking anonymously to the press.

But if Harris, 59, were to replace Biden atop the ticket, Democratic voters would mostly be happy with the younger candidate — a woman of color who could champion the party’s message on abortion rights, and a former state attorney general who could prosecute the Democratic Party’s case against voting for Trump.

Harris could also motivate key Democratic constituencies to show up on Election Day, including women and Black adults, who were more likely than Americans overall to say Harris would do well as president. 

Americans outside the Democratic Party were more skeptical of how Harris would perform in the Oval Office. Only about three in 10 Americans say Harris would be a good president. Nearly half said Harris would not do a good job, and two in 10 say they don’t know enough to have an opinion. 

Harris’ favorability rating is similar to Biden’s, but the share of Americans who have an unfavorable opinion of her is somewhat lower. The poll showed that about four in 10 U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of Harris, while about half have an unfavorable opinion. There are more Americans with a negative view of Biden: approximately six in 10. About one in 10 Americans say they don’t know enough to have an opinion of Harris, whereas nearly everyone has an opinion on Biden.

About three-quarters of Democrats have a positive view of Harris, which is in line with how Democrats view Biden. Seven in 10 have a favorable view of him.

Harris is also better-known among Democrats than other potential candidates, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. About one-third of Democrats say Newsom would make a good president, and half don’t know enough to say. About one-quarter of Democrats say Whitmer would do well, and about two-thirds don’t know enough to say.

The AP poll of 1,253 adults was conducted July 11-15, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.