Should Joe Biden Drop Out? What MN Democrats Are Saying

MINNESOTA — President Joe Biden is facing mounting calls by fellow U.S. House Democrats, including Minnesota's Rep. Angie Craig, to let someone else take up the party flag in the presidential race against Republican Donald Trump.

Biden has said he is staying in the race, insisting in a defiant letter to Democratic lawmakers that he is the best candidate to defeat Trump in November.

While Biden captured overwhelming victories in this year’s Democratic Party primary elections, the contests featured low turnout and little competition, despite a controversial primary attempt from Minnesota's Rep. Dean Phillips.

But Biden said Democratic voters have spoken at the ballot box.

"It was their decision to make," the president wrote. "Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned. The voters – and the voters alone – decide the nominee of the Democratic Party."

Still, as of Friday, more House Democrats are publicly calling for Biden to step aside. Only one Democratic U.S. Senator, Peter Welch, has done the same.

And on Friday, major Democratic donors said $90 million in pledged donations is now on hold if Biden remains on top of the ticket, the New York Times reported.

Here's what Minnesota's Democrats have said so far about Biden:

Rep. Angie Craig, 2nd District:

"Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump," Craig said in a statement on Saturday.

"This is not a decision I’ve come to lightly, but there is simply too much at stake to risk a second Donald Trump presidency. That’s why I respectfully call on President Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee for a second term as President and allow for a new generation of leaders to step forward."

Rep. Ilhan Omar, 5th District:

"At this moment, the stakes are too high and we have to focus," Omar said, adding that Democrats are "losing ground" the longer they fight over Biden’s candidacy.

"Democracy is on the line. Everything we value as Democrats, as a country, is on the line, and we have to stop being distracted."

Omar also told The Independent: "Biden is going to be our nominee and we have his back."

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, 4th District:

McCollum said that Biden "must prove that he is up to the job for the next four years," the Star Tribune reported.

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, 3rd District:

Phillips, who was widely and publicly criticized by Democrats this year when he challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination, wrote on social media: "Speak only if it improves upon the silence. -Gandhi."

Phillips later told Business Insider reporter Bryan Metzger: "If this is vindication, vindication has never been so unfulfilling."

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar:

"The stakes couldn’t be higher," Klobuchar told MinnPost. "Our democracy hangs in the balance. The next week is critical and this is the moment the president must demonstrate to the American people that he can win."

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith:

Smith told MinnPost: "I have a lot of concerns, and I’m not the only one."

Gov. Tim Walz:

Walz, an official surrogate for the Biden campaign, told PBS Newshour that Biden "had a poor night" with the debate but that he still stands behind the president as the best candidate to defeat Trump in November.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story.