Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Wednesday became the latest—and most prominent—Democrat in Congress to call for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
“[Biden] has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a Vice President, and now as President has made our country better,” Schiff, a close ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
“But our nation is at a crossroads. A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he added.
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Schiff, who is running for U.S. Senate in California, said the “choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone,” adding that Biden should “pass the torch.”
Schiff's call for the president to exist the presidential race is essentially a proxy the Democratic leadership in Washington.
“That’s Nancy using her drone, it’s the SAME as Obama using Clooney,” a Hill aide told Puck, referring the George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed calling on Biden to drop out.
Schiff is the highest-profile Democrat to tell Biden to step aside after the divided party had decided to pause its pressure campaign on the president in the wake of the failed assassination attempt Donald Trump at a campaign rally.
“This is not the time,” a donor told The Hill's Amie Parnes.
Schiff’s call comes after the Democratic National Committee announced earlier on Wednesday that it would move forward with its plan to virtually nominate Biden as the party's nominee ahead of its convention in Chicago next month.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) is leading the charge to halt the virtual roll call vote. He drafted a letter to the DNC on Tuesday calling on the organization to cancel the virtual nominating session.
“It’s a really bad move by the DNC. Somebody thinks it’s a clever way to lock down debate and I guess by dint of sheer force, achieve unity, but it doesn’t work that way,” Huffman told Politico of the virtual roll call vote.
