A group of two dozen former House Democrats has sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling for him to step aside to prevent a GOP takeover of Washington. Instead, they want him to allow for an “open convention” this summer to decide the 2024 ticket.

In their letter, the 24 Democrats — which include former House members and one former senator — make clear that they do not doubt Biden’s “extraordinary record.” But they warn that if the president stays on the ballot, it would mean the party not only loses the White House, but would decimate their ranks in Congress.

“This leads us to a regretful conclusion. President Biden would best serve the nation he loves by releasing the convention delegates who are pledged to nominate him for a second term. His decision to do so would mean an open convention in August. We ask him to make that decision.” according to the letter, which was obtained by POLITICO.

The letter includes several members who served for over two decades each, including Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Jim Moran (D-Va.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Phil Sharp (D-Ind.) and John LaFalce (D-N.Y.). One is also a former senator, Sen. Tim Wirth of Colorado.

“While time is short, that does not justify inaction or complacency,” they wrote. The message, they said, is “difficult but necessary.”

Without action, they warn, the down-ballot effects could be devastating for members of Congress — and even state legislatures. That’s particularly dangerous, they said, if former President Donald Trump were to win the election.

If Trump wins, they wrote: “The Democrats need at least one house of Congress to protect our liberty and the rule of law from total GOP control of the federal government.”

Former Rep. David Skaggs (D-Col.), who organized the effort, declined to speak further about the letter, saying it speaks for itself.

Lauren Gardner contributed to this report.

A 19th Hill Democrat is calling on President Joe Biden to withdraw from the ticket — one of California’s most vulnerable Democrats.

“First, let me say that President Biden has been an outstanding leader, not only of our nation, but of the entire free world. Making this statement is not easy,” Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “I have deep respect for President Biden’s five plus decades of public service and incredible appreciation for the work we’ve done together these last three and a half years. But I believe the time has come for President Biden to pass the torch.”

Levin is the fifth member to call on Biden to withdraw since the president’s NATO press conference on Thursday. He follows Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), who called on Biden to withdraw earlier Friday, and another San Diego representative, Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who made a similar statement shortly after Biden’s press appearance.

“Once again, our national mettle must be forged in the crucible of history,” Levin said in a statement. “It is time to move forward. With a new leader. Together.”

Levin joins a chorus of other front-liners — including Reps. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.) and Angie Craig (D-Minn.) — who have called for a different leader.

President Joe Biden on Friday is meeting with three groups of House Democrats — which include dozens of members anxious about his future on the ticket — as he works to rescue his flailing candidacy.

Biden has scheduled meetings with the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the centrist New Democrat Coalition as he shores up support among key blocs in the party, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Leaders of the New Democrats met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries earlier this week to voice concerns about Biden’s impact on their purple-district lawmakers.

The Hispanic caucus leaders have publicly supported Biden, though some of its lawmakers, including those from purple districts, have issued more tepid endorsements of his candidacy. And the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), has voiced concerns about Biden’s candidacy.

First-term Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) became the 18th Democratic member of Congress to demand President Joe Biden abandon his reelection bid in a statement released Friday morning.

“Joe Biden saved our country once, and I’m joining the growing number of people in my district and across the country to ask him to do it again,” she said. “Please pass the torch to one of our many capable Democratic leaders so we have the best chance to defeat Donald Trump.”

Pettersen, who won her seat in 2022 by about 15 points, called the decision “so painful” and credited Biden as “a big reason I went down the path of public service myself” but said “my son and my constituents can’t suffer the consequences of inaction at this critical moment.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met privately with President Joe Biden on Thursday night to relay his caucus’ anxieties about the president’s reelection bid.

It is not clear whether Jeffries called on Biden to withdraw from the race, an outcome that many of his members are publicly and privately seeking. Jeffries told lawmakers he “directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the Caucus has shared in our recent time together.”

He’s held a series of listening sessions with a broad cross section of the caucus in recent days as lawmakers fretted over Biden’s candidacy and ability to serve a second term.

House Democrats — who are among the loudest voices in Washington about the potential electoral doomsday if Biden remains atop the ticket — are at a standstill as they await the next steps from their party leaders. Sixteen House Democrats have called for Biden to withdraw from the ticket, in addition to one senator.

There are also questions about whether Biden’s other Hill allies, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who has been fielding her own concerns from members about Biden’s candidacy — will speak to the president.

Jeffries indicated Thursday that he planned to convene Democratic House leaders to discuss the path forward on Biden, though the timing is unclear. There are no leadership meetings scheduled and no caucus meetings on the books. The House is out of session next week, and lawmakers are scattered across the country.

After weeks of hand wringing, both publicly and privately, many Democrats realize they are coming up against an obvious deadline: Next week’s GOP convention. Democrats are loath to let their infighting over Biden consume any oxygen as Donald Trump takes center stage in Milwaukee.

Seventeen members of Congress have now called on President Joe Biden to stand down from his reelection bid, but a key senior ally — Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) — said Friday morning he’s sticking with the incumbent after a steady press conference performance.

“I am all in,” Clyburn said on NBC’s “Today Show.” “I’m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes, no matter what method he takes. I’m with Joe Biden.”

Clyburn is a prominent senior Democrat who played a large role in helping Biden secure the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. In the interview, he urged Democrats to “focus on the substance of this man, rather than these sometimes misspoken words and phrases,” indicating the debate over Biden’s fitness and viability should be over.

But he didn’t completely close the door on Biden standing aside. He added that if the president “decides to change his mind later on, then we will respond to that. We have until the 19th of August to open our convention.” Clyburn also expressed full confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris.

There are already signs that the press conference did little to convince the Biden doubters, though. A number of Democrats who’ve called for Biden to stand down from pursuing his reelection bid acknowledged the president had a good night during his NATO press conference but that it didn’t fundamentally change their view of his chances in November. A couple of examples:

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who called for Biden to step down minutes after the presser wrapped: “Imagine that three months from now, we get another performance like there was in the debate, right before the election,” he said on CNN. “Do you want to take that risk? I don’t.”
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), who called for Biden’s to stand aside hours before Biden’s public appearance Thursday, also to CNN: “The fact is we can’t have a situation where every day we’re holding our breath, whether it’s a press conference or a rally.” (He added that calls to his office asking Biden to stand aside outnumbered those wanting him to stay 30 to 1.)

In short: Democrats are not aligned on the path forward at the end of another week. Friday may be telling in whether additional rank-and-file members ask the incumbent to abandon his presidential reelection bid.

President Joe Biden delivered a steady performance at a high-stakes press conference Thursday but still fell short of assuring jittery Democrats concerned about his future, prolonging painful questions across the party.

But minutes after the press conference wrapped up, at least two more Democratic lawmakers called for Biden to step aside — a sign his problems are far from over.

“Today I ask President Biden to withdraw from the presidential campaign,” Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), wrote in a statement obtained by POLITICO. “The stakes are high, and we are on a losing course.” Just minutes before, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, also called on Biden to step aside in a post on X.

Even as Biden successfully fielded 50 minutes of questions on an array of dense issues, many Democrats privately feared his several verbal gaffes would be what stood out the most. That includes one in which he mistakenly referred to “Vice President Trump” instead of Kamala Harris.

“Unreal,” said one House Democrat watching the appearance, responding to the flub, who ultimately reviewed it as: “Mixed. Obviously much better second half.” Another Democrat, who was following Biden’s remarks from a plane Biden’s remarks from a plane, texted about the Trump moment: “Ouch.”

“Overall he sounded coherent but calling Z — President Putin and Harris — VP Trump overshadows the rest of his time,” that lawmaker added. Democrats were granted anonymity to speak candidly about their reactions to the press conference.

Still, it wasn’t as bad as some Democrats feared. Biden flexed his foreign policy chops — including his role in expanding NATO — and defended his record of legislative accomplishments. Those moments, as well as a jab at Trump’s golf game, drew positive reviews from Democrats watching.

“Holy shit — he’s on fire,” texted one aide as Biden lit into Trump’s record.

And asked about his ability to do the job, the president said there’s “no indication” he’s slowing down and said he has more work to do: “I want to finish it.”

“Looks and sounds 100x better than he did at debate,” one House Democrat said in a text, adding that Biden was “almost” as good as his last State of the Union appearance, which drew no complaints from his party.

“Talked too long. But if this had been the debate none of the last two weeks would’ve happened,” that member added.

The whole thing could put Democrats in an even more awkward position than before. Despite deep discontent with their nominee, the performance wasn’t bad enough to trigger party-wide movement toward Harris or others. While at least a half-dozen Democrats had prepared statements to come out against Biden if he had tanked in the press conference, it remained unclear, as of Thursday night, whether it had met their bar.

Many Democrats told POLITICO they didn’t catch the press conference in real time for various reasons, including pre-scheduled travel, fundraisers or other personal reasons. Both chambers of Congress had left D.C. earlier Thursday, and won’t return for more than a week.

Hours earlier, the president’s mix-up between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a NATO event also elicited groans in the party.

“He has no margin for error,” one House Democrat said in response. Another House Democrat, when told about the Zelenskyy-Putin mistake by a reporter, did not believe it.

“No he didn’t,” said the Democrat. “Christ.”

One senior Democratic aide summed up their reaction bluntly: “It’s time to suck it up and push the old man over the finish line.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed reporting.

A pair of House Democrats — Reps. Ed Case and Greg Stanton — became the latest lawmakers to call for President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid.

“For the sake of American democracy, and to continue to make progress on our shared priorities, I believe it is time for the President to step aside as our nominee,” Stanton (D-Ariz.) said in a statement.

“I do not believe President Biden should continue his candidacy for re-election as President,” Case (D-Hawaii) said in his own statement.

The two lawmakers are the newest of more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers to push for Biden to step aside, with likely more to come. A Thursday closed-door meeting with the president’s aides left skeptical senators unmoved, and as POLITICO first reported, at least half a dozen other lawmakers are preparing to publicly break with Biden if his highly anticipated solo press conference Thursday night goes poorly.

Two other Democrats came close to calling for Biden to step off the ticket and raised more questions about his fitness for office.

Trump-district Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) said in a statement she doubted the president’s “judgment” about his health, fitness for office and own ability to govern.

“Americans deserve to feel their president is fit enough to do the job. The crisis of confidence in the President’s leadership needs to come to an end. The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first,” she said in a statement.

And Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) said on WPRI his voters “have deep and unanswered doubts” about Biden’s ability to win the election and to serve another four years in office.

Top advisers to President Joe Biden met with Democratic senators on Thursday to try to reassure lawmakers nervous about his viability in November. It didn’t work.

Lawmaker calls for Biden to step aside have swelled against this week — with Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) bringing the total number of Democrats to 12 and others poised to follow suit if the president stumbles again. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) became the first senator to demand Biden stand down on Wednesday night.

The most outspoken critics of the president continuing his reelection bid appeared unmoved by the session that included senior Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, as well as Biden campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon. Behind closed doors, the group of Democratic senators actively pushed back on assertions from the Biden campaign that the president was on the right track to win this November, according to a person briefed on the meeting.

After it concluded, Welch said the meeting didn’t change his mind.

“I have great respect for their team. It doesn’t change my point of view,” he told reporters.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who said publicly he feared a Democratic wipeout with Biden atop the ticket, called the session a “good discussion,” but said his concerns remained about the incumbent being a drag on other races.

In interviews with more than two dozen Democratic senators following the meeting at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, staunch Biden backers reiterated their support. But the wide swath of Democratic senators who have either remained mostly silent or expressed some reservations did not seem reassured following the meeting.

“Joe Biden really has to bring it to Donald Trump,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a brief interview. “I still need to see the data and analytics that show me the path to victory.”

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) echoed that sentiment: “He’s got to demonstrate that the debate was just a bad night. … There’s a clock running.”

Then there was a loud silence from other senators. Normally chatty senior Democrat conference members like Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Jack Reed (R.I.) and Angus King (I-Maine) all declined to comment on the meeting, with several lawmakers indicating they agreed not to speak with the media. Several senators declined to say if anyone in the closed-door meeting had called for Biden to step aside.

“It was very clear that we were asked not to say anything,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

Among those who spoke during the meeting were Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who’s expressed concern about Biden’s viability, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), one of his staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill.

“I certainly stood up hard for my friend, our president, Joe Biden,” Coons said.

At least three Democrats facing reelection this fall — Jon Tester (Mont.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Tim Kaine (Va.) — did not attend the session.

Prominent centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), who toyed with an independent presidential bid and formally left the Democratic Party earlier this year after announcing his retirement from the Senate, said he planned to speak with Biden over the weekend. He said the Biden aides gave no indication he would drop out, but answered lots of questions from senators.

Despite mounting concerns elsewhere, it’s clean Biden still has strong backers from some Democratic senators.

“In my view, President Biden is going to run for president and Biden is going to win,” said leading progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “And he’s going to win because the contrast between his policies and Donald Trump’s are very, very clear.”

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), a member of Democratic leadership, said Biden officials laid out an “aggressive plan.” And Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) said of those Democrats nervous about Biden’s mental fitness for another term in office: “I think the president will answer those concerns” during his press conference following the NATO summit on Thursday afternoon.

Lawmakers will have fled Washington by then, out of town for a week-long recess as the Republican convention commences next week.