Out Rep. Mark Pocan, other Dems join call for Biden to drop out

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, the gay man who heads the Congressional Equality Caucus, has joined the chorus of Democrats calling on President Joe Biden to step aside from his reelection campaign.

Pocan, who represents a Wisconsin district, and fellow Democratic Reps. Jared Huffman of California, Marc Veasey of Texas, and Chuy García of Illinois issued a joint statement saying their party has a “deep and talented bench of younger leaders, led by Vice President Kamala Harris,” according to The Texas Tribune,Politico,and other outlets. However, they did not explicitly say Harris should be the nominee.

“We must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign,” the statement said. “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 at this moment is to step aside as our nominee while continuing to lead our party from the White House,” the statement continued.

Veasey is the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to urge Biden to make way for another nominee. The caucus has otherwise been staunchly supportive of him. García is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose political action committee endorsed Biden Friday.

Other LGBTQ+ Dems who have called on Biden to step down are U.S. Reps. Angie Craig of Minnesota, Eric Sorensen of Illinois, and Mark Takano of California.

The full list of those who have taken this stand, includes U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Ed Case, Sean Casten, Kathy Castor, Jim Costa, Lloyd Doggett, Raúl Grijalva, Jim Himes, Greg Landsman, Mike Levin, Zoe Lofgren, Betty McCollum, Seth Moulton, Scott Peters, Brittany Petterson, Mike Quigley, Pat Ryan, Adam Schiff, Brad Schneider, Hillary Scholten, Mikie Sherrill, Adam Smith, and Greg Stanton, and U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, Martin Heinrich, Jon Tester, and Peter Welch.

Also, Democratic leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and former President Barack Obama, are reported to have been meeting privately with Biden to urge him to reconsider his run.

Some others say Biden is thinking things over. “I think our president is weighing what he should weigh, which is who is the best candidate to win in November and to carry forward the Democratic Party’s values and priorities in this campaign,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a close Biden ally, said Friday at the Aspen Security Forum, Politico reports.

But Biden so far is sticking it out. “Absolutely the president’s in this race,” his 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,” she added. “But it has been a small movement.”