Why Powerful Democrat Adam Schiff Is Joining the Call for Biden to Step Aside: ‘Our Nation Is at a Crossroads’

Schiff is the latest Democrat to ask that Joe Biden drop his 2024 reelection bid. The president, meanwhile, says he will only step back under a couple of circumstances

Congressman Adam Schiff is the latest, and perhaps most prominent, Democrat to call for President Joe Biden to abandon his reelection bid.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Schiff — who is facing off with former baseball star Steve Garvey in the California Senate race for Dianne Feinstein's old seat — said he had "serious concerns” about whether Biden can beat Donald Trump in a 2024 rematch.

Schiff asserted that Biden “has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history," but added that "our nation is at a crossroads."

“A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November," Schiff said.

While Schiff acknowledged that the “choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone,” he said it is time for the president “to pass the torch” and “secure his legacy of leadership."

Related: Joe Biden Responds to Headline-Making Press Conference Flub, Donald Trump's 'Big Boy' Jab

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Schiff is part of a growing chorus of Democrats calling on Biden to step aside in the wake of a disastrous June 27 presidential debate with rival Donald Trump that has rocked his 2024 reelection campaign.

NBC News recently cited three campaign insiders who said that several people working to reelect Biden now view his chances of winning as zero amid the post-debate fallout.

“He needs to drop out,” one Biden campaign official told the outlet. “He will never recover from this.”

“No one involved in the effort thinks he has a path,” a second source told NBC.

During a recent press conference, Biden was asked directly if he would step aside should polling show that Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, has a better chance than he does of beating Trump.

"No, unless they come back and say, 'There's no way you can win,' " he replied, adding, "no poll's saying that."

More recently, Biden said that he would consider dropping out of the 2024 race if a medical condition were to emerge, telling BET in an interview excerpted by The New York Times, “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, 'You got this problem and that problem.' "

Related: 25 Democratic House Members Are Ready to Call for Biden’s Withdrawal from 2024 Race: Report

On Tuesday, July 2, Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first Democratic member of Congress to publicly call for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.

In a statement obtained by CNN, Doggett said, "I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw [from the 1968 presidential race]. President Biden should do the same."

A number of other Democrats have since come forward with similar concerns.

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