First House Democrat urges Biden to withdraw from presidential race

• Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas urged President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.
• Doggett, 77, is the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to formally call on Biden to drop his reelection bid against former President Donald Trump.
• "I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition?" said former House speaker and current Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas urged President Joe Biden on Tuesday to "make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw" from the 2024 presidential race.

Doggett, 77, is the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to formally call on his own party's incumbent to drop his reelection bid against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

The call significantly escalates pressure on Biden, 81, whose disastrous debate against Trump last week set off waves of panic among his supporters about whether he is capable of winning in November and serving another four years in the White House.

But Biden and his team have so far shut down any suggestion that he will leave the race.

In response to Doggett's statement, a Biden campaign official told NBC News: "He's staying in."

That and other post-debate assurances from Biden and the campaign have done little to quell Democrats' mounting concerns, some of which are starting to boil over into public view.

"I think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition?" former House speaker and current Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday on MSNBC.

Pelosi recommended that Biden sit for multiple face-to-face interviews with "serious journalists" to reassure his allies. Biden has participated in fewer press conferences or interviews than many of his