U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley encouraged President Joe Biden on Friday to drop his bid for a second term, making the North Side congressman the first in Illinois’ Democratic delegation to join a small but growing group of party members urging Biden to abandon his race against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“Mr. President, your legacy is set. We owe you the greatest debt of gratitude. The only thing that you can do now to cement that for all time and prevent utter catastrophe is to step down and let someone else do this,” Quigley said during an interview Friday night on MSNBC’s “All in with Chris Hayes.”
Quigley’s comments came just hours after a defiant Biden repeatedly declared during an event in Madison, Wisconsin and in a TV interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he was staying in the race despite his poor performance in last week’s debate against Trump in which he appeared to be at times confused and even hapless.
“You probably heard we had a little debate last week. Can’t say it’s my best performance, but ever since then, there’s been a lot of speculation. What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? What’s he going to do? Here’s my answer: I am running and am going to win again,” Biden said at the Madison event, held in a middle school gymnasium. “They’re trying to push me out of the race. Let me say this clearly as I can, I’m staying in the race.”
Other Democratic congressmen have called for Biden to step aside, including Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Raúl Grijalva of Arizona and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, but Quigley is the first major Democrat from Illinois to join the chorus. Quigley, who first took office in 2009, is also from Chicago, which will be hosting the Democratic National Convention next month where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were long expected to celebrate being renominated to take on Trump in November.
Quigley’s comments come just two days after Biden, 81, met with the nation’s Democratic governors and tried to tamp down concerns about his age and mental fitness and his ability to defeat Trump a second time. Among those who met with Biden at the White House was Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has been mentioned repeatedly as a potential Biden replacement and someone with White House ambitions of his own.
Following that meeting, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said of Biden that the governors “have his back.”
“A path to victory in November is the No. 1 priority — and that’s the No. 1 priority of the president. So that’s what we’re trying to get done,” Walz, the head of the Democratic Governors Association, told reporters outside the White House Wednesday. “The feedback was good, the conversation was honest and open, and the action that will come out of that will make sure that we’re getting that message out.”
But despite Biden’s outreach attempt to the governors, some Democrats said privately that the meeting was too little, too late as questions continued to swirl as to whether the president’s reelection campaign would survive.
A Pritzker political team spokeswoman said Wednesday that the governor reported that the roughly 90-minute meeting “was candid and he appreciated hearing directly from the president.”
