Hillary Scholten wants Biden to ‘step aside.’ Jennifer Granholm defends him

• U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten is Michigan’s first member of Congress to call on President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign after June debate.
• Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, now Energy Secretary under Biden, says the president remains ‘on his game.’
•  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has defended Biden but said on CNN Wednesday “I don’t think it would hurt” for him to take a cognitive test.

U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten on Thursday became the first member of Michigan’s Democratic congressional delegation to call on President Joe Biden to end his bid for reelection to allow for an alternative nominee. 

In a statement, the first-term Democrat from Grand Rapids said Biden has  “secured an incredible legacy” but that she was standing up for “what is right” by calling for him to exit the race against former President Donald Trump. 

“For the good of our democracy, I believe it is time for him to step aside from the presidential race and allow a new leader to step up,” Scholten said.

“We must have a standard bearer who will fight morning, noon and night for our civil and voting rights and unite the free world against the rising tide of authoritarianism,” she said. “Joe Biden has been that leader for so long; but this is not about the past, it's about the future. It's time to pass the torch.”

“The choice to stay in the race belongs to the president,” Scholten added, noting she intends to respect his decision and will still vote for him if he accepts the nomination at the national party’s convention in August.

Scholten is the highest-profile Michigan Democrat — and the first candidate in a battleground district – to call for Biden to abandon his campaign after a June 27 debate performance that shook some Democrats’ faith in the 81 year-old president’s ability to vigorously pursue reelection.

Her call for Biden to step down comes as the president prepares to return to Michigan for his fourth campaign stop in the state this year. He is expected in Detroit on Friday, but his campaign has not yet provided details on the event. 

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Scholten represents a critical district for Democrats, who made big gains in west Michigan in both 2020 and 2022 en route to statewide election wins.

West Michigan has historically been a conservative region, but redistricting, an increasingly liberal Grand Rapids and moderate voter frustration with Trump contributed to a political shift Republicans are now working to reverse.

Scholten beat Trump-endorsed GOP nominee John Gibbs by nearly 13 percentage points in 2022, becoming the first Democrat to represent the area since the mid-1970s. Biden won the district by a narrower 8 points in 2020, while Hillary Clinton topped Trump by a razor-thin one-tenth of a point in 2016.

Scholten is the 11th Democrat in Congress to call for Biden to step down. She joins nine other members of the U.S. House, and one U.S. senator. 

Granholm says Biden ‘on his game’

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who now serves as Energy Secretary under Biden, defended the president Thursday morning in Lansing, where she announced $500 million in new federal funding to convert a General Motors factory to produce electric vehicles. 

Biden “should stay in the race,” Granholm told reporters, calling the GM investment “exhibit A” for why he should stay in office.

“I'm in the cabinet, so I see the president,” she said. “All of this churn about his capabilities is completely off-mark. He is on his game. He asks the hardest questions at cabinet meetings and conversations and bilateral meetings.”

Biden is “older, yes, but that also means he's wiser,” Granholm added. “And he's got so much experience and information … When you're briefing the president, you better go in prepared, because he will ask questions that you hadn't even thought about.”

Biden has so far dismissed calls to step down, and in a Monday letter challenged House Democrats to end the internal debate over his candidacy so that he can focus on defeating Trump in November. 

“Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us,” Biden wrote. “It is time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump."

Scholten joins a handful of other Michigan Democrats who have gone public with calls for Biden to step down, including state Rep. Phil Skaggs of East Grand Rapids and former state party Chairman Lon Johnson.

A cognitive test?

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a co-chair of Biden’s campaign, has stood by the president and said Wednesday night on CNN that “unless one person, Joe Biden, makes an alternative decision, we've gotta go.” 

However, she conceded Wednesday night that Biden could reassure Americans he is up to the job by taking a cognitive test. “I don’t think that it would hurt,” Whitmer said.

Whitmer has batted away speculation that she could be a leading candidate to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket, should he step down. Other Democrats who have been floated as potential candidates include Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Michigan Democratic Party’s second highest-ranking official, state Rep. Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor, told Bridge on Monday that he has “fielded concerns from quite a few Democrats” but said “ultimately, it is up to President Biden” to determine whether he “is in the strongest position to win.”

Other Democrats have remained steadfast in their support. Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, wrote Thursday on social media that she backs Biden wholeheartedly — in part because of his age.

“I’ve concluded that having an end of career POTUS (who isn’t a delusional narcissist, misogynist and felon) is what we need now,” Hood said. “Old is good in this moment.”

Still, Democratic anxiety over Michigan, a crucial battleground state, has continued to rise in the weeks following the debate. 

The New York Times reported Wednesday that U.S. Senate candidate and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, told donors that internal polling showed Biden trails Trump and her polling of her potential general election matchup is neck-and-neck.

A current polling average from RealClearPolitics places Trump 0.6 percentage points ahead of Biden in Michigan.