5Florida DNC member and Tampa City Councilman Alan Clendenin has joined a growing list of Democrat officials calling on President Joe Biden to bow out of the election. Clendenin, a senior member of the Democrat National Committee, has issued multiple calls over the past week, breaking rank with the Florida Democratic Party.
“Mr. President, it’s time,” Clendenin wrote Thursday on X. “I believe it is in the best interest of our country and the world that President Joe Biden step aside and allow Vice President Kamala Harris to carry forward his agenda as our Democratic nominee.”
Clendenin first suggested on Sunday that Biden exit the race, saying that “the future of the Republic as we know is in imminent danger” and calling on Democrats to “hold our country above our party or any one individual,”
“Joe Biden has been a great president. But this election is not about the last 3 1/2 years or any one person, it’s about the survival of our nation and the world. If we are holding out because of demands for loyalty, we aren’t any better than the MAGA crowd.”
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Mr. President, It’s time.
— Alan Clendenin (@aclendenin) July 12, 2024
The list of officials calling for Biden to step aside has grown to include twenty Democrats in Congress—but none so far from Florida. While the Florida Democratic Party has continued to signal its support, Clendenin’s statement suggests that unity may be cracking.
Earlier this year, the Florida Democratic Party canceled its March presidential primary. The primary would have occurred on the same day as the 2024 Florida municipal elections, but the state party scrapped it to help Biden. The decision devastated Democratic turnout, with 42 percent of the party’s incumbents losing their seats.
At the time, State Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried had promised to make up for canceling the primary by mobilizing increased get-out-the-vote efforts. Those efforts ultimately fell flat, however.
Following Biden’s widely criticized debate performance last month, Fried reaffirmed her party’s loyalty to the President. In a prepared statement, she supported Biden’s “clear vision to move America forward.” She added that “Florida Democrats will do everything possible to make that choice clear between now and November.”
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As a senior member of the Democratic National Committee I believe it is in the best interest of our country and the world that President Joe Biden step aside and allow Vice President Kamala Harris to carry forward his agenda as our Democratic nominee.
— Alan Clendenin (@aclendenin) July 10, 2024
Despite Florida Democrats’ commitment to the President, all projections point towards a resounding Republican victory in the Sunshine State this November. In an interview with podcaster John Heilemann last month, Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon admitted that the state was no longer in play for the campaign.
“For decades, Florida was the largest, most important battleground state in presidential elections,” Governor Ron DeSantis wrote on X in response to the interview. “Today, even the Biden campaign acknowledges that those days are over. Florida is not in play in 2024.”
Since Governor DeSantis’s election in 2018, state voter registration has dramatically shifted in favor of Republicans. As of this year, registration currently favors the GOP by more than 900,000 votes, and it is expected to reach 1 million by November.
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