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.

Democratic lawmakers are making contingency plans in case Joe Biden tanks his highly anticipated solo press conference later Thursday, with at least a half-dozen lawmakers preparing to go public against the president, according to six people familiar with discussions.

Three of those lawmakers’ offices have already drafted statements, according to two people who have been briefed on conversations.

The lawmakers are among a large faction of Democrats who have so far remained largely silent about Biden’s future despite major concerns about his ability to defeat former President Donald Trump. The people familiar with discussions declined to specify on record the members who were preparing statements against Biden or ready to do so.

“This is a moment that will make a difference,” said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who is retiring from his Michigan swing seat this fall. He noted the unscripted press conference, occurring at the end of the three-day NATO gathering in D.C., will be Biden’s first chance after a shaky ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos to convince the public he can win. During that interview, Biden dismissed his unnerving debate performance two weeks ago as simply a “bad night.”

Among House Democrats, there is a pervasive sense of panic about Biden at the top of the ticket. But there is also a deep divide internally about how to handle the situation.

Many are privately skeptical that there’s any number of Democratic defections that would actually convince Biden to leave the ticket, calling it “delusional” thinking. Others insist that a large-enough groundswell could make a difference, pointing to party leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who could relay concerns to Biden himself. Pelosi and Jeffries huddled on the House floor for an extended period of time Thursday morning, according to one lawmaker who witnessed the exchange.

Regardless, all Democrats agree on one thing: The party is running out of time to come up with a strategy to help them defeat Trump and take back the House in November.

“[Biden’s NATO presser] is part of the bigger picture of whether he’s able to be unscripted and answer questions,” said Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Col.), who has not definitively backed Biden. “We’ll see how today goes, but it’s a small part of where we are.”

Others, even Biden backers, are doubtful that a good performance by the president will sway Democrats much at all. The damage has already been done, they argue.

“The main make-or-break is occurring right now and we will, asmembers of Congress, continue to analyze who’s the best person at the top of the ticket,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), who’s supportive of the president.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), who’s already called for Biden to step aside, was more blunt: “The cake is baked.”

“What if he has a great day and a bad day tomorrow? Do you really want a campaign where you have that uncertainty through the most tense moments?” Quigley said.

And Biden’s team has another problem on the Hill: A growing sense of frustration that his campaign team has not been responsive enough to lawmakers’ concerns. Several Democrats told POLITICO they are frustrated that campaign officials haven’t responded to members asking them to address concerns about Biden’s strategy.

“I’ve asked the campaign for a plan and they’ve just not been responsive,” said Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.), who has said he’s close to saying Biden should quit. “So I think they’ve sent their message to me.”

And Quigley said he hadn’t heard from the Biden campaign or the White House either, though he added: “I’m not the one they need to convince.”

House Republicans failed to pass their $7 billion funding bill for parts of the legislative branch on Thursday, a surprise misstep in what should have been an easy victory for GOP leaders.

The failure is an ominous sign for Republicans’ push to pass the rest of their fiscal 2025 spending bills on the floor before August recess, with seven bills — most of which are far more politically divisive — tentatively slated for floor action during the last two weeks of July.

The measure collapsed on the House floor in a 205-213 vote, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats to tank the legislation as well as several GOP absences. A longstanding and contentious freeze on a cost-of-living pay raise for members of Congress, in addition to concerns about higher spending, contributed to the GOP dissension.

Before the vote, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), a GOP appropriator who voted against the bill, raised concerns on the floor about increased funding levels and the constitutionality of maintaining the pay freeze through appropriations bills. While House Republicans are broadly seeking cuts throughout their annual spending bills for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, the Legislative Branch measure is one of a few that seeks a funding hike, proposing an overall 6 percent bump for the House, Capitol Police, Congressional Budget Office and more.

Senior Republican appropriators were shocked by the failed vote, with House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) calling it “inexplicable,” adding that he had not heard significant concerns from members.

“Well, I assumed it was going to pass,” said Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), another senior appropriator.

Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), who oversees the Legislative Branch funding measure, said the bill was facing “a few different issues.”

“And so we went in — the last couple of days — we knew that it was going to be close,” he said. “There were some members that were expressing concerns. And there were a lot of members who weren’t here, as well.”

Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Debbie Lesko of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Keith Self of Texas and Clyde all voted against the bill.

GOP leaders will now face their most ambitious fiscal 2025 task yet: attempting to pass seven appropriations bills during the last two weeks of July, several of which never made it across the floor last summer thanks to politically tough goals for funding cuts and policy provisions that fueled House Republican infighting.

House Republicans have so far managed to pass four of their spending bills on the floor for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, including measures that would fund the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Homeland Security, State and foreign aid programs.

Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report incorrectly identified Rep. Robert Aderholt’s state. He represents a district in Alabama.