Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a prominent House Democrat who served as the lead impeachment manager for Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial and served on the House panel that probed the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to huddle with his fellow Democrats about stepping down from the top of the ticket.
The letter, obtained by Spectrum News, does not explicitly call on Biden to drop out, like several other prominent Democrats — most recently, California Rep. Adam Schiff — have since his shaky debate performance against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump last month, but rather presents it as a choice to the embattled Democrat for the good of the country.
News of the letter was first reported Thursday by The New York Times. The letter is dated July 6, a little more than a week after Biden's debate against Trump, which set off a political firestorm and raised numerous questions about the Democrat's fitness for office and mental acuity. He has thus far rebuffed calls to step down, insisting that he is still the best candidate to defeat Trump.
“I write as your admirer, your supporter and your fellow politician,” Raskin begins. “I write also as your friend who has treasured your compassion and wisdom. But I write you now, above all, as a fellow citizen who shares your mad love for American democracy and freedom.”
“We are under siege every day by the autocrats and monarchists, from Moscow to Mar-A-Lago, and the decisions we make will be historic for the fate of our country and our freedom,” he continues. “I am not writing to presume to tell you what to do, Mr. President, because that is up to you and Jill and your family entirely. You will be the best judge of that.
“But I am writing to remind you of who you are. As a truly great and magnificent leader, you belong to all of us. Sometimes it will be hard for you to perceive, much less fully comprehend, the substance and character of your own greatness.”
The Maryland Democrat praised the president’s bonafides, hailing his defense of democracy at home and abroad and his numerous accomplishments as president — including lowering prescription drug costs, investing in the country’s infrastructure — and praising him for “stepping forward to run for president in 2020,” which, he charged, “stopped Donald Trump from destroying America.”
“Your presidency rescued us from becoming a failed state under Trump’s indifference to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in the COVID crisis,” Raskin continued. “You did not do these things alone and you never claimed to. You let us see that democracy is the system that allows all of us to work together to take care of common things. Democracy is the system where we take turns.”
But later on in the letter, he draws a parallel to a star baseball pitcher with a tiring arm, invoking the 2003 American League Championship Series, where in a decisive Game 7, where Red Sox manager Grady Little decided to keep a tiring Pedro Martinez in the game, which allowed the New York Yankees to tie the game and eventually go on to win the series.
“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics,” Raskin wrote. “Your situation is tricky because you are both our star pitcher and our Manager.
“But in democracy, as you have shown us more than any prior president, you are not a Manager acting all alone; you are the co-Manager along with our great team and our great people,” he continued. “Caucus with the team, Mr. President. Hear them out. You will make the right decision.”
In a statement to the Times, Raskin emphasized that "we needed a strategic internal discussion about how to move forward to decisively win the election, which is of immeasurable importance to the future of America."
His letter, he said, "expressed my profound affection for the president, my great concern for the future of the country and my confidence in the judgment he would make. None of those things has changed."
While the drumbeat of calls for Biden to step down has slowed in the days since the assassination against Trump last weekend, they have not gone away entirely, particularly with the Republican National Convention in full-swing, aiming to energize the GOP and rally its base behind the ex-president.
At least 20 House and Senate Democrats have publicly called on Biden to step aside from the top of the ticket, citing Biden's performance against Trump in the debate, as well as polling showing the incumbent trailing his challenger in key battleground states that he won in 2020. One of the most recent, Schiff, called Biden "one of the most consequential presidents in our nation's history," but expressed that he "serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November," charging that a second Trump White House term will "undermine the very foundation of our democracy."
“While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch," Schiff said Wednesday. "And in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election."
He did, however, signal that he would stand by Biden if he does not step aside: "But make no mistake, whoever our party ends up nominating, or if the nomination remains with the president, I will do everything I can to help them succeed. There is only one singular goal: defeating Donald Trump. The stakes are just too high.”
On Thursday evening, as the final night of the RNC was going on, another Democrat joined the fray asking Biden to step away: California Rep. Jim Costa.
"President Biden has been an incredible President who has led this country back to strength after the Pandemic," Costa said. "I am proud of the work we have done to pass monumental legislation that is leading to the first real investments in our communities in decades.
"But for the good of the country, I think it is time for the President to pass the torch to the next generation to carry on the legacy he started," he added. "Democrats need to unite and deliver their strongest team to the American people in this election.”
Former President Barack Obama has privately expressed concerns to Democrats about Biden's candidacy, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi privately warned Biden that Democrats could lose the ability to seize control in the House if he didn't step away from the race.
Influential Democrats from the highest levels of the party apparatus, including congressional leadership headed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are sending signals of concern. Some Democrats hope Biden will assess the trajectory of the race and his legacy during this few days' pause.
Using mountains of data showing Biden's standing could wipe out the ranks of Democrats in Congress, frank conversations in public and private, and now, the president's own time off the campaign trail after testing positive for COVID-19, many Democrats see an opportunity to encourage a reassessment.
Over the past week, the New York Democrats Schumer and Jeffries have spoken privately to the president, candidly laying out the views of Democrats on Capitol Hill, including Democrats' concerns.
Biden, in a radio interview taped just before he tested positive for COVID-19, dismissed the idea it was too late for him to recover politically, telling Univision's Luis Sandoval that it's still early and that many people don't focus on the election until September.
"All the talk about who's leading and where and how, is kind of, you know — everything so far between Trump and me has been basically even," he said in an excerpt of the interview released Thursday morning.
Pressed about reports that Biden might be softening to the idea of leaving the race, his deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said Thursday: "He is not wavering on anything."
In recent days the president has become become more committed to staying in the race, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Some national polls do show a close race, though others suggest Trump with a lead. And some state polls have contained warning signs too, including a recent New York Times/Siena poll that suggested a competitive race in Virginia.
A poll released Wednesday conducted by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that seven in 10 U.S. adults — including 65% of Democrats — say President Joe Biden should suspend his reelection campaign and allow the party to nominate a different candidate.
Read the full letter below.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.