Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont is the first member of the United States Senate to call on President Joe Biden to abandon his candidacy.
Democratic candidates will suffer if the weak incumbent is at the top of the ticket in November and the magnitude of Biden’s frailty was vividly exposed during his debate with disgraced former President Donald Trump.
“We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance,” wrote Welch in a Washington Post op-ed published Wednesday. “We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night.”
“For the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race,” Welch said.
The freshman senator cited polling “shifts” in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia to make the case that the political peril was too great for Biden to stay in the race because of the risk that Trump might win.
A dozen Democratic members of the House have called on Biden to step aside and several senators privately expressed concerns that Biden’s unpopularity risks Democrats losing both the House and Senate.
Sen. Michael Bennet said that he feared Trump would win in a “landslide” but stopped short of asking Biden to step aside.
Welch praised Biden for his years of service, saying that he has “united” the party and helped created a bench of elected officials who can defeat Trump.
He called Vice President Harris a “capable” leader and also praised other unnamed Democratic governors and senators.
“I understand why President Biden wants to run,” said Welch. “He saved us from Donald Trump once and wants to do it again. But he needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to do so. In my view, he is not.”