Democrats fear Biden could jeopardize their chances of flipping the House

Washington CNN —

In the days since President Joe Biden’s disappointing debate performance, a number of Democrats running in competitive districts have expressed their fear to the Biden campaign and the White House that the president remaining at the top of the ticket not only hurts the party’s chances of holding onto the presidency but also the coveted goal of winning back the House of Representatives from GOP control.

The Democratic lawmakers have expressed their belief that Biden could suppress voter turnout, which will be the deciding factor in a number of key races, and therefore hurt their ability to win in November, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations.

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who represents a largely rural district in Maine that twice backed former President Donald Trump, said Tuesday in an op-ed he expects Trump to win in November “and I’m OK with that.”

Washington state Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said Tuesday she believes Biden will lose but stopped short of calling for him to drop out of the race.

“About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate. I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump. I know that’s difficult, but I think the damage has been done by that debate,” Gluesenkamp Perez told CNN affiliate KATU when asked if Biden should remain in the race.

In particular, Democrats in the most difficult general election matchups are feeling the heat.

“The frontliners are not hesitating to tell the campaign how they feel,” one Democratic lawmaker familiar with the conversations told CNN. “They are saying they are going to lose if they have