US President Joe Biden announced Friday that he will resume campaigning next week after undergoing treatment for Covid-19, as more than 30 Democratic lawmakers call for him to drop out of the White House race. “I look forward to returning to the campaign trail next week,” Biden, who has been in retirement in his home state of Delaware after contracting Covid-19 this week, said in a statement.
Biden’s campaign announced his return to the field in a statement attacking the “bleak vision” that former President Donald Trump outlined for the country in his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination last night at the party’s convention in Milwaukee. “Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box,” Biden said. “The stakes are high and the choice is clear. Together, we will prevail,” he added.
The announcement also comes as pressure has mounted for Biden to end his re-election campaign, with six more Democratic members of Congress publicly calling on the president to “pass the baton” to someone younger. The six Democrats bring the number of members of Congress calling for Biden’s recall to 31, or nearly 12 percent of the members of the lower house and Senate who make up the Democratic caucus. Of the 31 leading the revolt, 28 are members of Congress and three are senators.
The first to call for Biden’s removal today was Sean Casten of Illinois, who in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune titled “It’s Time to Pass the Baton” said that while it “breaks my heart to say it (…), the President is no longer fit for the job.” Shortly after, in a joint statement, four other Democrats urged Biden to also “pass the baton to a new generation of Democratic leaders.”
While expressing their “great admiration” for Biden, they admit there is concern among the public about the 81-year-old head of state’s “age and fitness” to govern the country for another four years and defeat Trump in November. “We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing for him to do at this time is to withdraw as our candidate while continuing to lead our party from the White House,” they said in the statement.
Among the lawmakers signing the statement is African-American Marc Veasey, a Texas representative and the first member of the group of African-American elected representatives in Congress to turn his back on Biden, which opened a rift in what has been the President’s strongest support bloc in Washington.
Also signing the letter are Hispanic Jesús ‘Chuy’ García, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as well as Marc Pocan of Wisconsin and Jared Huffman of California, an ally of influential Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Later, Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico urged Biden to “pass the torch” to allow the party to unite behind a candidate capable of defeating Trump, becoming the third member of the Senate to call for the president’s recall. “This moment in our nation’s history demands a vision that goes beyond any one individual. Donald Trump’s return to the White House poses an existential danger to our democracy. We must defeat him in November, and we need a candidate who can do it,” Heinrich said.
The influx of lawmakers is increasing pressure on Biden, who has seen his support among key party figures waver in recent hours. As reported Thursday by The Washington Post, former President Barack Obama told his inner circle that Biden should “seriously reconsider” his candidacy.
The call for Biden to withdraw came after the June 27 debate against Trump, in which the head of state, who at 81 is the oldest president in the country’s history, projected an aged image and had difficulty finishing some sentences.
Source: expresso.pt
