Even After Biden Press Conference, Dem. Warns He’s Too Big a “Risk”

Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a fierce warning to his fellow lawmakers late Thursday: that President Joe Biden must drop out of the race or risk losing the election for the party.

Just minutes after Joe Biden’s chaotic press conference concluded Thursday, Himes was one of four Democrats who released a statement urging Biden to drop out of the presidential race.

“The 2024 election will define the future of American democracy, and we must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden,” Himes wrote.

During an interview on CNN later that night, Himes explained his “painful” decision to ask Biden to withdraw. The Connecticut Democrat said he couldn’t see the president’s “trajectory” to pull himself, and his fellow Democrats, to victory. Himes suggested that Biden no longer appeared to be the best person to sell all of the party’s accomplishments over the last four years.

“If you believe that our problem is that we haven’t gotten that message across well, and if you also believe that the president has the biggest megaphone, you have to drop the emotion, and the loyalty and love and say, ‘In the next four or five months, is that story going to be told with such precision and poetry and beauty that you will turn around all the numbers that say we are going to lose?’” Himes said.

“I did this painful thing tonight because for me, the answer to that is, I just don’t see that trajectory, I don’t see the numbers,” he said.

Himes explained that when picturing the incumbent’s path over the next few months, he was concerned that another disaster like Biden’s performance at the presidential debate could have catastrophic effects.

“Imagine that three months from now, we get another performance like there was in the debate, right before the election. Do you want to take that risk? I don’t.”

Himes spoke emphatically as he warned that the issue of Biden’s candidacy needs to be resolved within the coming days, or it will risk further damage to Democrats’ chances.

“We just went 10 days where the story was not Donald Trump promising totalitarianism, it was, ‘How is Joe Biden gonna do in the Big Boy press conference?’” Himes said. “Wherever you are on this stuff, this needs to stop soon.”

Himes spoke strongly as he shifted his address, which seemed to be directed at his fellow politicians, urging them to ask themselves the hard question, “Are you sure he’s going to win?”

“You’re not just gambling your own political reputation, you are gambling the future of the United States of America,” Himes said.

Jim Himes, the top Democrat on House Intel and one of the latest to call on Biden to get out: “Imagine that three months from now, we get another performance like there was in the debate, right before the election. Do you want to take that risk? I don’t." pic.twitter.com/HOk0FgWa2I

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 12, 2024