US Congressman Adam Schiff on Wednesday joined the ranks of elected Democratic Party representatives opposing current President Joe Biden, who are running in this year’s presidential election against Republican Donald Trump.
“A second Trump presidency would undermine the foundations of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about the president’s ability to defeat Donald Trump in November,” the influential California congressman-elect said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“While withdrawing from the campaign is President Biden’s only option, I believe it is time for him to testify,” Schiff said this year, “and thereby secure his leadership legacy, allowing him to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.” The Senate candidate, as Democratic Party leadership tries to set a date for Biden’s confirmation as the nominee via video, even before the Democratic National Convention next month.
Nearly 20 elected Democrats in both houses of Congress have asked Biden to drop out of the presidential race after his poor performance in last month’s televised debate against Donald Trump, who has widened his lead in opinion polls.
According to a poll released today, nearly two-thirds of Democrats say Joe Biden should drop out of the presidential race and allow the party to nominate a different candidate.
The new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted as Biden tries to salvage his nomination, sharply undermines his post-debate argument against Trump that “middle-of-the-road Democrats” are still with the president, even if some “big names” are turning against renomination.
The poll, released two weeks after the debate fiasco, found that only three in 10 Democrats are very or strongly confident that Biden has the mental capacity to effectively perform the duties of president, down slightly from 40% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in February.
The Democratic National Convention Rules Committee will meet Friday to discuss plans to confirm Biden via video as the nominee, according to a letter sent to members obtained and cited by The Associated Press.
CNP co-chairs Lea DeDaughtry and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said in the letter that they do not intend to have a “rushed” process and that the virtual vote will not take place before August 1, but they do intend to hold the vote before August 7, 12 days before the start of the Democratic Convention in Chicago.
With the exception of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no candidate from either major party — Democratic or Republican — has ever been nominated electronically.
Typically, presidential candidates receive the formal nomination at party conventions.
Former President Donald Trump himself was formally selected Monday as the Republican Party’s nominee on the first day of that political powerhouse’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The National Communist Party had decided in May to officially nominate Biden as its nominee before the Democratic convention, as Ohio forced parties to register their presidential candidates before August 7 to ensure they would be on the ballot on Election Day.
The situation has changed in recent weeks, since Ohio lawmakers approved a law setting the deadline for candidate registration at the end of August, so that Biden could theoretically be nominated at the party convention, as is customary.
However, the Biden campaign insists that the party must operate under Ohio’s primary rules to prevent Republican lawmakers from going to court to keep the president out of the vote.
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