Greg Stanton dumps Joe Biden

The trickle of elected Arizona Democrats who are calling for Joe Biden to step aside following his disastrous debate performance is starting to look more like a stream.

Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ4) became the 13th Democrat nationwide—and the second from Arizona as the Globe reported, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ7) was the first from our state – to publicly call on the 81-year-old president to make way for a more dynamic candidate in this November’s election.

“The Democratic Party must have a nominee who can effectively make the case against Trump,” Stanton wrote in a statement that was released on Twitter this afternoon, “and have the confidence of the American people to handle the rigors of the hardest job on the planet for the next four years. For the sake of American democracy, and to continue to make progress on our shared priorities, I believe it is time for the President to step aside as our nominee.”

The defection is notable for two reasons. First, Stanton had been an early and enthusiastic supporter of Biden. Just this past March, he greeted the president at the airport when Biden came to Phoenix to announce that $8.5 billion in federal grants from the CHIPS Act for Intel’s semiconductor plant in Chandler.

The second reason the Congressman’s defection is notable is because Stanton, who was elected to fill Kyrsten Sinema’s seat when she ran for the US Senate, faces his own expected tight battle for re-election against whichever Republican wins the primary on July 30: Kelly Cooper (the 2022 nominee), David Giles, Zuhdi Jasser or Jerone Davison. The fact that a Congressman in a swing seat in a swing state has dumped the president may signal that Democrats worried about re-election are starting to feel the burden of Biden’s struggles on their own races.

Indeed, when Stanton went public today with his rejection of the president, he pre-ambled his statement by addressing his earlier support.

“Back in 2020, long before Joe Biden was the presumptive nominee of our party, I endorsed his candidacy for President — and I’m proud of that decision. President Biden has been one of our country’s most effective modern chief executives, and has truly delivered for Arizona — signing into law a once-in-a- generation investment in our infrastructure, the most consequential bill ever to fight climate change and protect our water, lowering drug prices for seniors, and turbocharging the U.S. semiconductor industry,” Stanton wrote.

At least one of Stanton’s would-be opponents isn’t buying it.

Dr. Jasser told the Arizona Globe, “The people of the 4th district have eyes and are rational and can see that Greg Stanton has been a central part of the coordinated, epic coverup and lies coming from the Biden Administration and the Democratic Party for years. The people of the 4th district will no longer tolerate being lied to and deceived about who is actually running our country. Our current sitting Congressman has been a willing accomplice to the deception that has been Biden’s capacity to lead and has not represented the interests of our constituents while having a record of voting 100% of the time with President Biden. To me, as a primary care physician, it’s not just a question about whether Joe Biden should be the nominee. This is a true crisis. It’s about whether he should be President at all.”

Stanton and Grijalva are two of the 14 House members who have publicly renounced support for their party’s presumptive nominee. But it’s not just those two congressman who are voicing doubts.

The New York Post reported yesterday that Gov. Katie Hobbs mentioned that “Arizonans have been concerned about the president’s age” but stopped short of disavowing support, using Pelosi-style language to suggest “That’s up to the president” to decide whether he remains in the race.

Meanwhile, Rep. Ruben Gallego, busily pursuing the Sinema Senate seat, didn’t really take a stand. He told Business Insider reporter Bryan Metzger that “What the voters are saying is that they want to see him out there, they want to see him being able to do the job, and I think, you know, he has to show that.”