Some Democrats Still Aren’t Happy With Joe Biden

WASHINGTON ― Hours after President Joe Biden urged his party to unify around his candidacy, one House Democrat called on him to step aside and more than a dozen Democratic senators raised concerns about whether he is the best candidate to lead the presidential ticket.

“I think it’s become clear that he’s not the best person to carry the Democratic message. … It hasn’t gotten better since the debate,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said during an interview on CNN.

“Personally, I think Kamala Harris would be a much better, stronger candidate,” Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, added.

No Democratic senators, meanwhile, have urged Biden to step aside, but many voiced their concerns and said they needed to discuss at a closed-door lunch on Tuesday whether to stick with Biden or open the door to another, younger candidate to face off against Trump in November.

“I have a lot of concerns, and I’m not the only one,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said. “I’ve been hearing a lot of concerns from folks back home in Minnesota. I mean, I think right now, our party is having a big, robust discussion about what comes next and what we should do. And I actually think that that’s healthy.”

Several senators said that Biden needed to do more to allay the concerns of the American people about his fitness. The president is expected to hold several public events this week, including a rare press conference at the White House.

“I believe it is incumbent upon the President to more aggressively make his case to the American people,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a statement.

That sentiment was shared by vulnerable Democratic incumbents, including Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio), whose seats Democrats need to