A high-profile Biden supporter, asks him to leave presidential race

Hollywood superstar and lifelong Democrat George Clooney added his voice to calls for US President Joe Biden to leave the presidential race on Wednesday, just weeks after hosting a fundraiser that brought in a record single-night haul for the president’s reelection campaign.

Clooney said in a New York Times opinion piece that he loves Biden, but the party would lose the presidential race as well as any control in Congress with him as the nominee.

“This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private,” wrote Clooney.

He argued the party should pick a new nominee at its convention next month, saying the process would be “messy” but “wake up” voters in the party’s favor, mentioning Vice President Kamala Harris and Governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Gavin Newsom of California among those from who the the party should hear.

Focusing much of his piece around Biden’s age, Clooney noted differences he saw in the 81-year-old president during their recent Los Angeles event compared to years past.

“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe Biden of 2010,” Clooney wrote. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”