TEXAS, USA — Texas Democrats are front and center in the growing and loud, debate over whether to replace President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket following his disastrous debate performance.
On one side, you have Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas.
“The fact that Democrats are so scared of their own shadow and won’t just stand up and say hey, he’s got a record to run on and it’s a very strong record, we stand with him, is absolutely ridiculous,” the Democrat told us on Y’all-itics.
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And on the other side, you have Congressman Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who is now calling on Biden to withdraw from the race.
“President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024,” Doggett said in a news release.
And on the state level, there’s Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, who, immediately following the debate, called for replacing Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Reynolds will be a national delegate to the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Chicago starting August 19.
And he didn’t rule out a floor fight to replace Biden at the top of the ticket.
“If we decide that we’re going to change courses, I think that if we did it at the convention, I think we would have sufficient time to get behind our Democratic nominee and our new ticket,” Reynolds told us on Y’all-itics. “And in my opinion, it could energize. You take away age as a factor on the ballot. You take away some of the other weaknesses that President Biden has.”
And in a sign of just how divisive this issue has become inside the party, Crockett bluntly told us the President isn’t sitting around waiting on Doggett or Reynolds to tell him what to do.
She doesn’t think there will be a floor fight to replace Biden at the DNC.
But Crockett argues that the focus on the President’s debate performance and whether he should drop out is stealing attention away from his record, his winning policies, and the race itself, calling it a terrible strategy.
“We have significant issues and the fact that people want to say well, 90 minutes, it was awful and so we’re going to throw it all away is absolutely crazy to me,” she said.
Rep. Reynolds, who chairs the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, says Biden could still win, also because his policies are winners.
But Reynolds calls the President’s debate performance a “train wreck” and says as many as 70% of Americans are concerned about his age and fitness, so the party has to be honest.
One question Reynolds had a hard time answering? Whether or not Biden should participate in a second debate.
“On one hand I want to see him redeem himself. And on the other hand, I’m concerned about a repeat,” Reynolds said.
And Reynolds says a repeat performance would not be in the best interest of the President, or the country.
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