Antonio Delgado and Pat Ryan, two prominent Hudson Valley Democrats, on Wednesday joined in the call for president Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign and support a challenger who’d have a better chance of beating Donald Trump in the November election. A group of national Democratic leaders including ex-House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate president Chuck Schumer have been seeking to meet with Biden to discuss the party’s situation.
As of Thursday afternoon, ten congressional Democrats had joined the call for Biden to step down. More are expected to follow.
“I’d be doing a grave disservice to the hundreds of thousands of people I have the honor to represent if I said Biden was the best candidate to face Trump this fall,” wrote Ryan, one of the ten, in an op-ed published in the Poughkeepsie Journal. “For the good of our country, for the future of our kids and grandkids, I am asking Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming election and deliver on his promise to be a bridge to a new generation of leaders.”
Delgado, whose main job in recent months has been representing the governor at various celebratory occasions throughout the state, expressed similar sentiments. “I believe we should move forward with a nominee capable of reinvigorating and reenergizing Americans who are determined to protect our democracy and who want to do so with a candidate they can believe in,” Delgado wrote.
Another local Democratic congressional candidate was in the same camp. “Most of the voters I talk to wish they had different options and they want new leadership,” Josh Riley, the Democratic candidate running against Marc Molinaro in the 19th Congressional District, the other district including part of Ulster County, said in a statement the day after the presidential debate. “They’re not wrong.”
Delgado’s situation is complex. Governor Kathy Hochul has regarded criticism of Biden as a waste of Democratic energies. “While lieutenant governor Delgado has the right to voice his opinion, governor Hochul believes Democrats must come together, move forward as a united party and focus on defeating Donald Trump in November,” Hochul campaign spokeswoman Jen Goodman said in a statement. “Every day we spend worrying is time away from working toward that goal.”
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