As of Tuesday afternoon, just one sitting Congressional Democrat — Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas — had called on Biden to bow out of the race, and another — Rep. Jared Golden of Maine — suggested it did not matter since it “has been clear … for months … Donald Trump is going to win.”

Golden (D-Me.) wrote in an op-ed for the Bangor Daily News that the 81-year-old president’s “poor performance” in his debate last week against Donald Trump “was not a surprise” but demurred about whether Biden should actually step aside and allow another Democrat to top the ticket, dismissing it as “post-debate hand-wringing.”

“Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise,” Golden wrote. “It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.”

According to a CNN/SSRS poll released on Tuesday, 75% of registered voters after the disastrous debate say the Democratic Party has a better shot at keeping the White House if Biden steps down.

Notably, 56% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents who were surveyed agreed with that.

“There are winners and losers in every election,” Golden went on. “Democrats’ post-debate hand-wringing is based on the idea that a Trump victory is not just a political loss, but a unique threat to our democracy.”

“I reject the premise,” Golden said in a shot across the bow to the president’s re-election campaign messaging. “Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system.”

The co-chair of the moderate House Blue Dog Coalition also rejected any “pearl-clutching” from Democrats over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

What to know about the calls for President Biden to drop out of the 2024 race:

• President Biden’s poor performance in the first 2024 presidential debate left some Democrats unsure of his fitness for office and future as the party’s candidate.
• More than a dozen congressional Democrats have joined in calling for Biden’s exit from the race. Former Biden supporter George Clooney echoed these calls in an op-ed published in the New York Times just weeks after he helped lead a record-breaking fundraiser for the Democrat.
• Democratic voters have continued to raise concerns about Biden’s nomination since the debate, with speculations and suggestions for replacement nominees running rampant.
• Biden’s former running mate Barack Obama has reportedly been trying to pressure him to drop out, and had prior knowledge of Clooney’s op-ed. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allegedly told Biden he could not beat former President Donald Trump this time around.
• As the Democratic National Convention approaches, California delegates for the Democratic Party are reportedly in disarray as debate over the president’s chances of re-election threatens to tear the party apart.
• However, the Biden campaign has denied any plans for Biden to bow out and for Kamala Harris to step in as the Democratic nominee. Sources close to the president believe he might not be willing to drop out, while other sources claim he is “receptive” to giving up on a second term.

“This election is about the economy, not democracy,” Golden insisted. “And when it comes to our economy, our Congress matters far more than who occupies the White House.”

Golden represents Maine’s rural 2nd Congressional District, which Trump carried in both the 2016 and 2020 elections — and opposed efforts by his state’s secretary of state earlier this year to deny the former president access to the 2024 ballot.

He has also not shied away from criticizing Biden or his administration for abandoning successful Trump-era border policies or stifling his state’s flagship lobster business with heavy-handed environmental regulations.

“Some of Congress’ best work in recent years has happened in spite of the president, not because of him,” Golden jabbed at Biden in his op-ed, thanking “responsible Democrats, including myself and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, [who] rejected Biden’s bloated ‘Build Back Better’ bill and instead passed a law that supercharged American energy production, saved Medicare billions of dollars and reduced the deficit.”

“It was Congress that wrote and passed the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to bring back manufacturing so we can once again be a nation of producers, not just consumers,” he also said, further denying Biden’s involvement in two of his administration’s signature legislative wins.

“We don’t need party insiders in smoke-filled back rooms to save us. We can defend our democracy without them,” Golden concluded.

“This Independence Day, we should reflect on the history and strength of our great democracy, safe in the knowledge that no one man is strong enough to take it away from us.”