Prominent Democrat Schiff demands Biden withdrawal ahead of convention

California Rep. Adam Schiff became the highest-profile Democrat to call for US president Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid, even as the party pushed ahead with plans for a virtual vote to formally make Biden its nominee in the first week of August.

The move to schedule the roll call, which would come weeks before the Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago on Aug. 19, follows nearly 20 Democratic members of Congress calling on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race in the wake of his dismal debate performance against Republican former President Donald Trump last month.

Among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new AP-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research poll — sharply undercutting Biden's post-debate claim that "average Democrats" are still with him even if some "big names" are turning on him.

"Defeating Donald Trump"

"While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch," Schiff said in a statement. "And in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election."

Schiff is a prominent Democrat on his own, and his statement will also be watched because of his proximity to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.

It was Pelosi who revived questions about Biden post-debate, when she said recently that "it’s up to the president" to decide what to do — even though Biden had fully stated he had no intention of stepping aside.

The former House speaker publicly supports the president, but has fielded calls from Democrats since debate night questioning what’s next.

In response to Schiff's comments, the Biden campaign pointed to what it called "extensive support" for him and his reelection bid from members of Congress in key swing states, as well as from the Congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses.

Biden is traveling in Nevada this week, and the campaign noted that he's been joined on the trip by "nearly a dozen" Congressional Black Caucus members.

Virtual roll call

Still, Schiff's announcement came after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries encouraged the party to delay for a week plans to hold the virtual vote to renominate Biden, which could have taken place as soon as Sunday, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The Democratic National Committee' s rulemaking arm is set to meet on Friday to discuss how the virtual vote plans will work and to finalise them next week.

"We will not be implementing a rushed virtual voting process, though we will begin our important consideration of how a virtual voting process would work," Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and Minnesota Gov.

Tim Walz, co-chairs of the rules committee for the Democratic National Convention wrote in a letter on Wednesday.

The letter also said that the virtual roll call vote won’t take place before Aug. 1, but that the party is still committed to holding a vote before Aug. 7, which had been the filing deadline to get on Ohio's presidential ballot.

The Democratic convention runs in person from Aug. 19-22, but the party announced in May that it would hold an early roll call to ensure Biden would qualify for the ballot in Ohio. That state originally had an Aug. 7 deadline but has since changed its rules.

The Biden campaign insists that the party must operate under Ohio’s initial rules to ensure Republican lawmakers can’t mount legal challenges to keep the president off the ballot.

Even if Democrats conduct a virtual roll call vote ahead of their convention, though, it wouldn’t necessarily lock Biden into the nomination.

The DNC rulemaking arm could vote to hold an in-person roll call in Chicago, said Elaine Kamarck, a longtime member of the party's rules committee and expert on the party’s nominating process.

But since the Ohio law doesn’t go into effect until Sept. 1, Biden appearing on the state’s ballot remains a real concern, Kamarck said.

"This is a failsafe for the Democrats," Kamarck said, adding that "the convention is the highest authority" in the nominating process.

The AP-NORC poll, conducted as Biden works to salvage his candidacy two weeks after his debate flop, also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down slightly from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February.

Biden has said he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if a "medical condition” emerged.

Biden made the remarks in a video clip from an interview with Ed Gordon of BET News, set to air later on Wednesday.

The US president tested positive for COVID-19 during a campaign trip to Las Vegas, and will self-isolate, the White House said on Wednesday.