To qualify for the Washington Post‘s Biden defector tracker list, it is no longer enough to merely consider aloud the question of whether the President should continue his campaign — or instead cede the presidential nomination to a younger Democrat.
That sort of noncommittal Biden-support limbo — a place where quiet Biden doubters like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have (so far) landed — used to be enough to make the list in the immediate wake of the Biden debate debacle. But as more Democrats are outright calling for Biden to step aside, the Post has changed its criteria, writing:
“The Post is no longer updating this page with comments from Democrats who have been critical of Biden, focusing instead on those who have explicitly said Biden should not be the nominee.”
There is — even with the change in criteria — no shortage of names to add, despite Biden’s relatively strong post-NATO summit press conference, where the President — in an unscripted setting — exhibited an expansive grasp of foreign policy nuance and domestic priorities, sprinkled with confident assertions about his own electoral appeal.
(NOTE: There were also a few verbal gaffes, which a glance at almost any front page news coverage will attest.)
Biden’s hour-long appearance and Q&A did not, however, staunch the bleeding of support from those Democrats who see this appearance — and not the terrible debate performance — as the anomaly.
The number of Democrats willing to say aloud that they want to see Biden step aside continues to grow and, as the Post‘s change indicates, warrants its own separate category from those who, like Pelosi and her fellow California Representative Adam Schiff, are calling on Biden to prove himself, not to remove himself.
Here are the names currently appearing on the Post‘s list of Biden defectors, which continues to be updated.
Rep. Eric Sorensen – IL
Rep. Scott Peters – CA
Rep. Jim Himes – CT
Rep. Ed Case – HI
Rep. Greg Stanton – AZ
Rep. Bradley Schneider – IL
Rep. Hillary J. Scholten – MI
Sen. Peter Welch – VT
Rep. Earl Blumenauer – OR
Rep. Pat Ryan – NY
Rep. Mikie Sherrill – NJ
Sen. Welch expressed the key sentiment: “We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night,” saying he is “calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race.”