Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) became the first Democratic lawmaker holding office to publicly call on President Joe Biden to step down as the party’s presidential nominee following his disastrous debate performance last week against former President Donald Trump. Doggett, 77, claimed in a statement that the 81-year-old president had “achieved much for our country at home and abroad” before highlighting that many are unhappy with him being at the top of the ticket in the upcoming elections. “President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump,” he said. “I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not.” “Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover,” he continued. “Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory-too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now.” “I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw,” he concluded. “President Biden should do the same. While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional. He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process. … I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”