Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin urges President Biden to reconsider 2024 election in letter, report says

The publication obtained a letter from Raskin to the president. The four-page letter is dated July 6 and compares Biden to a tiring baseball pitcher. 

According to the New York Times, Raskin hopes Biden will consider discussing with democrats about whether or not he should seek re-election. Biden has been vocal about staying in the presidential election, despite a growing list of Democrats urging him to reconsider. 

"There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics," Raskin wrote in the letter obtained by the New York Times. "Your situation is tricky because you are both our star pitcher and our manager. But in democracy, as you have shown us more than any prior president, you are not a manager acting all alone; you are the co-manager along with our great team and our great people. Caucus with the team, Mr. President. Hear them out. You will make the right decision."  

A recent poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that nearly two-thirds of Democrats say Biden should withdraw from the race and let his party nominate a different candidate. 

Nearly 20 Democratic members of Congress have called on Biden to withdraw in the weeks after a debate against 2024 GOP candidate and former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, California Rep. Adam Schiff called on the president to step down, saying he believed Biden should pass the torch. 

“While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,” Schiff said in a statement. “And in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.”

The calls for Biden to step down continue just weeks before the Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago on Aug. 19.