Virginia Senator Mark Warner is looking to assemble a supergroup of Democratic lawmakers to force President Joe Biden out of the 2024 presidential race.
The Old Dominion senator has told people that he no longer believes Biden has enough sway with voters to prevent another Donald Trump presidency, according to two sources that spoke with The Washington Post with the condition of anonymity.
Warner’s spokesperson Rachel Cohen refused to either confirm or deny Warner’s current beliefs about Biden’s ability. “Like many other people in Washington and across the country, Senator Warner believes these are critical days for the president’s campaign, and he has made that clear to the White House,” Cohen told the Post.
So far, Representatives Lloyd Doggett, Raúl Grijalva, and Seth Moulton have formally called on the president to exit the race, but many more have signaled their preference in subtler ways, including legacy politicians like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the latter of whom suggested that growing concern over the candidates’ ages was a “legitimate question.”
Panic over Biden’s age and ability has consumed the Democratic Party since the president’s abysmal debate performance last week, during which he appeared dumbfounded and frail through the majority of his first 2024 matchup against Donald Trump. Since the face-off, droves of private-sector leaders, donors, and consultants have urged Biden to call it quits, looking for spontaneous alternatives to a candidate that they openly describe as “comatose” and “dead.”
