Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) called on President Biden to resign from office amid calls from within the Democratic party to step aside.
“If you can’t run, you can’t serve,” he posted on X Saturday morning. “He should resign now.”
His comment comes after 12 Democrats called for Biden to leave the presidential race on Friday alone. As of Saturday, 35 Democratic lawmakers have called for Biden to step aside primarily over concerns about his ability to defeat former President Trump in the fall.
The list includes a relatively broad sample of the caucus, including Democrats running competitive re-election bids, like Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and those in uncontested districts, like Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). Just as many lawmakers, however, have issued statements backing Biden as the candidate, and have called for party unity.
Vance critiqued Democrats calling for Biden to step aside, pointing to what he views as a dissonance between wanting Biden off the ticket while believing he can still perform the job now.
“Everyone calling on Joe Biden to stop running without also calling on him to resign the presidency is engaged in an absurd level of cynicism,” he wrote.
On Saturday, Vance made his first appearance on the campaign trail as Trump’s VP pick in Grand Rapids, Mich. President Biden won the state in 2020, serving as one of several key battleground states that secured a Democratic victory.
“Having fallen flat at the RNC Convention, Peter Thiel’s Project 2025 errand boy is lashing out,” a Biden campaign spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill about Vance. “It’s sad really, but we understand it’s difficult for him running against Joe Biden’s historic, bipartisan record of delivering the infrastructure bill Trump couldn’t, capping insulin at $35/ month for millions of seniors, lowering prescription drug costs and so much more.”
Updated at 6:08 p.m. EST.