Washington — Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said Thursday that President Biden should not seek another term in the White House, becoming the second Democratic senator to call on the president to drop his reelection bid.
“Montanans have trusted me to do what’s right, and that’s a responsibility I take seriously,” Tester said in a statement shared with The Daily Montanan. “I’ve worked with President Biden when it made Montana stronger, and I’ve never been afraid to stand up to him when he’s been wrong. And while I appreciate his commitment to public service and our country, I believe President Biden should not seek another term.”
Tester is in a tough race to retain his seat in November and represents a state that Mr. Biden lost in 2020. He joins Senator Peter Welch of Vermont in urging the president to withdraw from the White House race, although a number of Democrats in the House have publicly called on Mr. Biden to step down.
The president has faced increasing pressure to withdraw from the race since Presidential Debate of June 27when his disastrous performance surprised many and raised concerns about his fitness for a second term. Mr. Biden has so far resisted their calls and, in an effort to silence Democrats worried about his prospects in November, has held a number of campaign events with his core voters and participated in several media interviews in recent weeks.
He was removed from the election campaign on Wednesday after tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating himself at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
The drumbeat for Mr. Biden to drop out of the race continued, and on Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff of California became the the most prominent Democrat in the House of Representatives to encourage Mr. Biden to “pass the torch.” A protégé of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Schiff is running for the Senate and is expected to win in November.
Congressional Democrats too circulated a letter urging the Democratic National Committee to delay an early virtual vote, in which Mr. Biden would be formally inaugurated as president. The party said the the vote will take place in early August, before the start of the Democratic National Convention on August 19.
