Battleground and at-risk Democrats are starting to get some distance from Joe Biden.
Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is the latest to call out Biden regarding his health issues. Tester is fighting a major battle to keep his seat.
Talking Points…
- Tester at risk
- Tester calls out Biden on health issues
- Analysis
Republicans identified Senator Tester as a seat they believe they can flip in the Senate to take back control. Tester recognized the fact that Republicans were making up ground against him several months ago, at which point he started to push back against Biden on some key conservative issues.
Even though Tester has been pushing back, he was still losing ground. To that point, in the most recent poll from Torchlight Strategies, Tester is trailing Republican Tim Sheehy 41-47%. This was a big swing from previous polling, where Tester and Sheehy had been tied.
While there are still Democrats acting as though Joe Biden is fine, Democrats like Tester are at risk and are now distancing themselves from Biden by calling him out over the health issues.
Tester has actually gone beyond that, demanding that Joe Biden prove to the American people that he is fit for office. On Monday, Tester stated:
"President Biden has got to prove to the American people – including me – that he's up to the job for another four years.
"Meanwhile, I’ll continue to do what I’ve always done: Stand up to President Biden when he’s wrong and protect our Montana way of life.”
Tester is not alone in calling out Biden at this point, as we are seeing more and more Democrats who know they are in a fight for their seat come forward. Some of the other Democrats that have called out Biden are Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Mike Quigly (D-IL, Adam Smith (D-WA), and Angie Craig (D-MN). Craig had one of the more aggressive statements:
"This is not a decision I've come to lightly, but there is simply too much at stake to risk a second Donald Trump presidency.
“That's why I respectfully call on President Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee for a second term as President and allow for a new generation of leaders to step forward."
I have also seen a report that was shocking, even to me, which was that Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) reportedly told House Minority Leader Jeffries (D-N.Y.) that Biden needs to step down immediately. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) and Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) reportedly echoed that statement. As I was writing this report, a new report surfaced regarding Nadler, who is now walking back his call for Biden to step down.
To put it bluntly, Democrats are in panic mode and Biden has done nothing to quell their fears right now. In fact, things have only gotten worse, as Biden has had a few appearances where he was either mumbling or zoning out while speaking.
On Tuesday morning, I heard about reports of Democrat leadership holding a meeting to discuss their strategy regarding Joe Biden. For his part, Biden has remained defiant, stating that he will not step down, even daring Democrats to go up against him. I still firmly believe that Biden will not voluntarily step down, which could force Kamala Harris and the cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment against him.
