Riverside’s Rep. Mark Takano has joined the chorus of Democrats calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the race against Donald Trump.
In a Saturday, July 20, statement, Takano, D-Riverside, asked Biden to step aside as the party’s candidate to take on Trump in November.
“President Biden’s greatest accomplishment remains saving democracy in 2020,” Takano said in the statement. “He can and must do so again in 2024 — by passing the torch to Vice President Harris as the Democratic Party Presidential nominee. It has become clear to me that the demands of a modern campaign are now best met by the Vice President, who can seamlessly transition into the role of our party’s standard bearer.”
The statement concludes with Takano saying: “Joe, I love and respect you. But the stakes are too high to fail. It’s time to pass the torch to Kamala.”
Biden on Friday, July 19, continued to resist such calls to end his campaign, saying he’d resume campaigning next week against what he called Trump’s “dark vision.”
Takano, a former Riverside Community College District trustee, is the ranking member on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Earlier this month, POLITICO reported that Takano, who has represented all or parts of Riverside, Perris, Jurupa Valley and Moreno Valley since 2013, is among those who want Biden to quit his campaign. At that time, other Inland Empire congressmembers were not publicly calling for a change atop the Democratic ticket.
Takano’s call follows a similar one from Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, earlier this week.
Schiff, a U.S. Senate candidate, on Wednesday, July 17, became the highest-profile Democrat to ask Biden to walk away from his reelection bid.
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Takano also praised Biden and his long political career.
“Perhaps no President in my lifetime has accomplished more in a single term or been as decent a human being as Joe Biden,” he said. “I am proud to have worked with him to keep our country afloat during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic by passing the American Rescue Plan, delivering historic climate change investments in the Inflation Reduction Act and creating the high-tech jobs of the future with the CHIPS and Science Act.”
He called Harris “a tenacious prosecutor” who is “ready for this moment.”
“She has been an invaluable governing partner to the President and can run on their many shared achievements on behalf of the American people,” Takano said. “Vice President Harris has the message, resources, and experience to defeat Donald Trump and safeguard our Republic.”
