A group of business leaders is urging President Biden to step aside and make way for a replacement atop the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket.
Leadership Now Project, a coalition of 400 politically active current and retired executives who mostly lean left, issued a statement on Wednesday calling on Mr. Biden to “pass the torch of this year’s presidential nomination to the next generation of highly capable Democrats.”
The statement is unsigned, but Daniella Ballou-Aares, the group’s founder and chief executive, stated that it was supported by an overwhelming majority of the members of Leadership Now Project.
The membership includes Jeni Britton Bauer, the founder of Jeni’s Famous Ice Cream; Thomas W. Florsheim Jr., the chief executive of the footwear maker Weyco Group; Eddie Fishman, the managing director of the investment firm D.E. Shaw & Company; John Pepper, the former chief executive of Procter & Gamble; and Paul Tagliabue, the former commissioner of the National Football League.
The statement comes as major Democratic donors are increasingly concluding that the party would have a better chance of holding the White House with a different nominee following Mr. Biden’s weak performance in last week’s presidential debate with Donald J. Trump. However, most donors and big money groups on the left have refrained from publicly expressing their concerns to avoid backlash.
In its statement, Leadership Now Project highlighted the urgency of preventing a second Trump term, describing it as “an existential threat to American democracy.” The group expressed disappointment in Mr. Biden’s performance at the debate, stating that he “failed to effectively make the case against Trump, and we now fear the risk of a devastating loss in November.”
The statement also mentioned that many individuals who share their concerns are hesitant to speak out and urged others to join them in their call for change.
In an interview, Ms. Ballou-Aares, a business executive and former senior State Department adviser, criticized the recent messaging from the White House and other Biden supporters, stating that decisions should not be made within a small group but should involve a broader democratic process.
“This sense that this is a small group family decision is not good for democracy,” she said, calling it “really inconsistent with where people were after watching the debate.”
Her group, which consists of nonprofit arms and a political action committee, has endorsed candidates from both parties and recently hosted former Representative Adam Kinzinger, an anti-Trump Republican, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan at its annual meeting. Gov. Whitmer has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Mr. Biden.
