A growing number of Democrats are publicly calling for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race following last week’s disastrous debate performance.

But in private, according to reports, Democratic operatives are saying that Vice President Kamala Harris should be the one to replace Biden, 81, as the Party’s presumptive nominee.

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Reuters, citing “seven senior sources at the Biden campaign, the White House and the Democratic National Committee with knowledge of current discussions on the topic,” reported on Wednesday that Harris, 59, is the “top alternative” presidential candidate if Biden steps aside.

The Wall Street Journal made a case for why Harris “would be Biden’s likeliest replacement.”

On Tuesday night, former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, who served in President Barack Obama’s administration with Biden, called on the president to allow a “stronger Democratic candidate” to run for the Party’s nomination.

“Defeating Donald Trump is too important for Democrats to do nothing,” Castro posted in a thread on X, formerly Twitter. “With the understanding that the stakes are so high, President Biden should make the difficult decision to withdraw from the race.”

Castro added that now is the time to act, noting that “Time is running out.”

Castro floated Harris’ name as a possible replacement who he said has “a better chance of winning” against Donald Trump than Biden.

Sadly, President Biden is not the campaigner he was in 2020—and looks very likely to lose to Trump, one of the weakest candidates in presidential history.

I am convinced that a number of other Democrats, including Vice President Harris, stand a better chance of winning.

— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) July 3, 2024

Castro’s social media posts came hours after Democratic Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett also made a public plea for Biden to drop out of the race.

“My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved,” Doggett said in a statement. “Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”

While Doggett didn’t mention Harris, his calls for Biden to drop out of the race came on the heels of former Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan penning an op-ed for Newsweek named the vice president.

Noting that he was “the first Presidential candidate to endorse Joe Biden in 2020,” Ryan took calls for Biden to drop out a step further and specifically said Harris should replace him.

“After deep reflection over these past few days, I strongly believe that our best path forward is Kamala Harris,” Ryan wrote before adding later: “Kamala Harris should be the Democratic nominee because she can energize the electorate and govern effectively as our next president. She has honed her raw talent and intelligence through a tough national campaign and three and a half years of experience that have her steeped in the knowledge of domestic and international issues. All of this while joyfully operating in our toxic and complicated political environment.”

Those comments from Democratic leaders are joined by similar calls on social media for Harris to be the Party’s nominee.

Harris, for her part, has been nothing shy of a loyal soldier for Biden, advocating loudly for him to remain in the race as the Democrats’ presumptive nominee.

The vice president defended Bided fiercely immediately following his unfortunate debate performance on Thursday night, which included several lapses in his trains of thought including being unable to finish his sentences at times.

OMG @VP KAMALA HARRIS GAVE ANDERSON THE WORKS TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/sHresLFNjE

— Madam Auntie VP Kamala Harris is THEE GOAT! (@flywithkamala) June 28, 2024

And during a brief interview on Tuesday, Harris reinforced her unwavering support for the president.

“Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we’re gonna beat him again, period” she said.

“Look. Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we’re going to beat him again. Period.” – Local Oakland woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, responds to nonsense question pic.twitter.com/axDhNLvVSv

— Qondi (@QondiNtini) July 2, 2024

Notably, Harris also warned Tuesday on social media, by way of posting an image of Trump the “dictator,” that “Democracy is on the ballot in November.”

Democracy is on the ballot in November. pic.twitter.com/CwNI5fg9hM

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 2, 2024

The calls for Harris to replace Biden come as a new poll found that the majority of Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance and think the country is on the wrong track.

However, the Yahoo News poll also found that just 9% of those surveyed thought that Biden should step aside to allow another candidate to run for president.

If Biden does drop out of the race, more poll respondents than not said someone other than Harris should be the Democratic nominee, although the numbers were close at 42% and 38%, respectively.

Still, given a choice between Harris and seven other Democrats like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and popular, progressive New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the poll found that the vice president was the clear-cut favorite at 31%.

A separate poll previously found that Biden’s support among Democrats quickly eroded following the debate.

The USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll found that more than 40% of Democrats said after the debate that Biden should be replaced as the Party’s presidential nominee.

The debate has also invited a flurry of negative news coverage of Biden, including an analysis from the New York Times on Tuesday largely based on anonymous sources reportedly close to the president who said his “lapses appear to have grown more frequent, more pronounced and, after Thursday’s debate, more worrisome.”

Biden, for his part, doesn’t appear to be doing himself any favors in that regard, let alone alleviating any concerns about the implications of his advanced age.

That includes admitting on Tuesday night that he “nearly fell asleep on stage” during the debate, blaming his obvious fatigue on a rigorous international travel schedule. “It’s not an excuse but an explanation,” Biden told donors during a campaign fundraiser in Virginia.

The travel Biden referred to happened almost two weeks before the debate.

The Democratic National Convention is set to be held in Chicago next month.

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