As Biden faces mounting calls to drop out, some prominent progressives, including AOC, are sticking by him
President Biden is facing mounting pressure to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. More than 35 congressional Democrats have now called on Biden to end his reelection bid following his halting performance at last month’s presidential debate, which reinforced questions about his age and fitness for office.
Others have remained noncommittal in public while behind the scenes are reportedly ramping uppressure on the president to reconsider his candidacy, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
There are, however, several notable progressive members of Congress who’ve publicly defended Biden and are standing by him, despite their stark opposition to some of the president’s policies, particularly concerning the United States’ material and monetary support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Sen. Bernie Sanders
The independent Vermont senator and progressive firebrand, who lost to Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, has recently emerged as one of the president’s key allies in Congress.
“Enough!” Sanders wrote in a New York Times op-ed published July 13. “It’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking.
“I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected. Why? Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Mr. Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar,” Sanders wrote.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The progressive congresswoman from New York has joined Sanders in Biden’s corner.
She slammed fellow Democrats calling for Biden to step aside in a late-night Instagram livestream on Thursday, claiming they didn’t have a clear plan forward.
“If you 10,000% are super-convinced that the candidate, or president, cannot beat Donald Trump, then do what you think is in your good conscience. But I have not seen an alternative scenario that, I feel, does not set us up for enormous peril,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez chastised what she calls “elite” Democrats for trying to push Biden out, claiming they also don’t want to see Vice President Kamala Harris replace Biden if he steps aside.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
The Massachusetts lawmaker challenged Biden in 2020 for the presidential Democratic nomination, but has been a strong Biden supporter. Warren serves on the president’s campaign national advisory board.
The Boston Globe asked Warren on July 8 if Biden should stay in the race following his highly criticized debate performance. She replied, “President Biden is our nominee. He is an excellent president. He works hard on behalf of working families every day.”
Following a wave of congressional Democrats calling for the president to “pass the torch,” Warren told MSNBC on July 20 that Biden “has a really big decision to make.”
“What gives me a lot of hope right now is that, if President Biden decides to step back, we have Vice President Kamala Harris who is ready to step up to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump and to win in November,” Warren said.
Sen. Chris Coons
The Delaware senator is a close ally of the president and co-chair of the Biden campaign.
Following Biden’s June debate performance, Coons told ABC’s This Week that Biden is “the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump.”
But late last week, Coons said the president is “weighing” the best candidate who could win the November election. “I am confident he is hearing what he needs to hear from colleagues, from the public, from folks,” Coons said at the Aspen National Security Forum on Friday. “There are folks still saying he is not strong enough or capable enough to be our next president,” Coons added. “I disagree.”
