Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) stopped short of calling for President Biden to withdraw from the race but argued Monday that “time is running out” for him to make the case for his candidacy.
“We need to strengthen our democracy, restore reproductive freedom, and build a tax code and economy around and for working people. And we need to do it with character and integrity, pragmatism, reliability, and bipartisanship,” Landsman, who represents Ohio’s 1st Congressional District, said in a statement.
“These are the stakes of this election. They couldn’t be higher,” he continued. “President Biden has to be able to make this case clearly to the American people, again and again and again. Now’s the time for action, but time is running out.”
Landsman’s district, which includes Cincinnati, is generally considered a safe one for Democrats. The Cook Political Report currently lists it as “likely Democrat,” and The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s election forecaster currently gives Landsman an 85 percent chance of winning in November.
The Ohio Democrat argued that former President Trump is “unfit to be President” and called him “an extremist and chaos machine,” hitting Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the issue of abortion access and his recent conviction in his New York hush money case.
A spokesman for the House Republicans’ campaign arm called Landsman’s statement an “election year stunt.”
“Greg Landsman thinks his voters are fools by trying to pull a phony election year stunt, and he has still yet to answer the question on everyone’s minds: ‘Is Joe Biden fit to serve as President?’ Landsman’s voters will certainly punish him this November,” Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in statement.
Five House Democrats have publicly called for the president to withdraw from the race, more than a week after Biden showcased a disastrous debate performance against Trump. Four senior House Democrats said during a private call Sunday that Biden needed to withdraw.
The president has been adamant about staying in the race, however — even making a last-minute call-in to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program Monday morning and vowing that “The bottom line here is we’re not going anywhere.”
Biden also addressed congressional Democrats who’ve expressed concern over his candidacy in a letter issued by his campaign, saying in part, “I have heard the concerns that people have – their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election. I am not blind to them.”
“I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely think I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024,” he added.
Updated at 1:37 p.m.