{"id":26912,"date":"2024-06-29T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-gov-polis-noncommittal-on-calls-for-biden-to-step-aside\/"},"modified":"2024-06-29T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-29T19:00:00","slug":"colorado-gov-polis-noncommittal-on-calls-for-biden-to-step-aside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-gov-polis-noncommittal-on-calls-for-biden-to-step-aside\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Gov. Polis noncommittal on calls for Biden to step aside"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gov.
Gov. Jared Polis speaks Wednesday at the Boettcher Mansion in Denver. Polis announced a sweepstakes program, The Colorado Vaccine Scholarship Lottery, in which 25 Colorado youths ages 12 to 17 will automatically be entered to receive $50,000 in scholarships if they\u2019ve been vaccinated. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span>Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis did not answer directly when asked Friday whether he agreed with a growing chorus of voices in the Democratic Party that say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s demeanor in Thursday\u2019s first presidential debate, during which the president\u2019s answers were raspy and at times confused, reignited widespread concerns among Democrats about his age and his fitness for a bruising reelection battle against former President Donald Trump, who turned in a combative debate performance that relied on repeated falsehoods and conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n

In a brief interview following his appearance on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival early Friday, Polis was noncommittal when asked about the calls for Biden to step aside, saying that he had \u201cbeen very critical of Donald Trump\u2019s agenda for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI focus on the issues, and I think (Trump\u2019s) tariff plan would be devastating,\u201d Polis, a Democrat, said. \u201cThe fact that he still openly talks about retribution is scary and un-American. So I think that that\u2019s an important contrast that we need to drive home to the people of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis was asked by a Newsline reporter whether, given what he and many others view as the high stakes of the 2024 election, Biden was the best messenger for the Democratic Party\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it takes all of us as messengers, to really highlight the dangers of a second Trump presidency,\u201d he said before ending the interview.<\/p>\n

Later Friday, Polis sent Newsline a written statement. The statement referred to the risks that would come from \u201canother disastrous Trump Presidency,\u201d and said, \u201cPresident Biden has been a successful President leading with honesty and integrity, and looking out for the whole country during an exceedingly difficult time. Last night was not a good night, and I hope that President Biden delivers his optimistic message about his vision for our future better throughout the campaign. To beat back Trump we need a clear message and fortitude. Donald Trump spewed wild conspiracy theories from the debate stage. President Biden has a vision for America where women have the right to choose what they do with their own bodies, where we tackle high housing costs, where every family can afford childcare, and where we show compassion and love for one another rather than hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least two Colorado Democratic elected officials joined those calling for Biden to step aside in the aftermath of Thursday\u2019s debate. In a social media post, state Rep. David Ortiz of Littleton wrote that Biden\u2019s performance was \u201creally really really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say it\u2019s the most important election of our lifetimes, but if we don\u2019t at least consider another candidate, then do we even mean it?\u201d Ortiz asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a new nominee,\u201d wrote state Rep. Javier Mabrey of Denver in another post. \u201cThere is far too much on the line in this election. We can\u2019t convincingly make the case to voters that Trump winning is an existential threat to our democracy if we stay on this path.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Newsline, visit www.cororadonewsline.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrat focused on dangers of second Trump presidency amid post-debate concerns about Biden\u2019s candidacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,28,818,265,716],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-headlines","tag-jared-polis","tag-politics","tag-president-joseph-biden"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26912"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}