WASHINGTON--Some elected Democrats loyal to President Joe Biden raised fresh questions on Tuesday about his 2024 re-election bid, with one calling for him to step aside, a shift after many defended him in the wake of last week's shaky debate performance. Whether Biden continues his 2024 bid for president after his halting debate performance against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is largely his decision, Democrats and political strategists have said. But Biden is facing pressure. Some donors have called for him to step aside, and other Democrats are worrying openly that he is not equipped to beat Trump in November. There are 25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives preparing to call for Biden to step aside, according to one House Democratic aide. A second House Democratic aide said moderate House Democrats in competitive districts - often called "frontliners" - were considering writing a letter to Biden about their concerns after getting hammered with questions in their districts this week. "It looks like the dam has broken," the source said. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken after the debate showed one in three Democrats think Biden should end his re-election bid. U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett became the first congressional Democrat to call for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race on Tuesday. He told NBC News in an interview that he hoped other Democratic lawmakers would follow his lead. Vice President Kamala Harris, asked in a CBS News interview about her response, said: "Look, Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we're gonna beat him. Period." Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi emphasized Biden's multiple legislative accomplishments during an interview with MSNBC but said it was legitimate to ask whether his debate performance was a one-night thing or a broader health problem. She said Trump should be given the same scrutiny. "I think it's a legitimate question to say, 'Is this an episode or is this a condition?' And so when people ask that question, it's legitimate, of both candidates," Pelosi said. After the debate, Pelosi had shown strong support. "Joe Biden’s decision to go forward is a decision that we will all embrace because of the record he has and the performance that will come with it," she said then. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday that Biden did not have an "episode," just a bad night. Biden, speaking at a campaign event in Virginia on Tuesday evening without a teleprompter, acknowledged his debate performance was not the best, but blamed it on a lack of sleep and said his campaign had raised $38 million since the debate. “The fact is that you know, I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones ... before ... the debate. Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage," he said. "That's no excuse but it is an explanation.” Biden's verbal stumbles and occasionally meandering responses during the debate heightened voter concerns that the 81-year-old might not be fit to serve another four-year term. "He has to be honest with himself," Democratic Representative Mike Quigley, a moderate from Illinois, told CNN on Tuesday. "It's his decision. I just want him to appreciate at this time just how much it impacts, not just his race, but all the other races coming in November." U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn told MSNBC he would support Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee if Biden stepped aside. Representative Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, predicted in an opinion piece published in the Bangor Daily News on Tuesday that Trump would win the election.
