Minnesota 4th District Representative Betty McCollum has joined the ranks of Democrats who have asked Joe Biden to step aside in the Presidential race. She joins Minnesota 2nd District Representative Angie Craig in saying it is time for Biden to drop out.
"Winning in November and defeating Trump's dangerous, hate-filled agenda must be Democrats' sole focus," McCollum said in a statement provided to the Star Tribune. "To give Democrats a strong, viable path to winning the White House, I am calling upon President Biden to release his delegates and empower Vice President Harris to step forward to become the Democratic nominee for president."
McCollum, who is 70 and now the dean of Minnesota's Congressional delegation, had up until now been a strong supporter of Biden and adds to the pressure on the 81-year old to bow out ahead of the Democratic National Convention which takes place later in August.
McCollulm also told the Star Tribune's Eder Campuzano that the Democrats should nominate current Vice President Kamala Harris as president, and current Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Harris' running mate.
Walz, as head of the Democratic Governor's Association, has been very visible and vocal in critiquing Republicans, Trump, his VP nominee JD Vance, and even appearing outside the just wrapped up Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Donald Trump officially was nominated as the GOP choice.
President Joe Biden on Friday appealed for party unity to take on former President Donald Trump’s “dark vision,” working to hold off pressure from Democrats at the highest levels for him to bow out of the 2024 election to make way for a new nominee and avoid widespread losses.
As more Democratic members of Congress called for him to drop out Friday — bringing the total since his disastrous debate against Trump to at least 30 — Biden remained isolated at his beach house in Delaware after being diagnosed with COVID-19. The president, who has insisted he can beat Trump, was huddling with family and relying on a few longtime aides as he tries to resist efforts to shove him aside.
Biden said Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention showcased a “dark vision for the future.” The president, seeking to move the political conversation away from his fate and onto his rival’s agenda, said Friday he was planning to return to the campaign trail next week and insisted he has a path to victory over Trump, despite the worries of some of his party’s most eminent members.
“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 win.”
Earlier in the day, his campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillion, acknowledged “slippage” in support for the president but insisted he’s “absolutely” remaining in the race and the campaign sees “multiple paths” to beating Trump.
“We have a lot of work to do to reassure the American people that, yes, he’s old, but he can win,” she told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show. But she said voters concerned about Biden’s fitness to lead aren’t switching to vote for Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.