A group of 14 Detroit-area state lawmakers in a joint letter Thursday expressed “unwavering” support for President Joe Biden, saying he is the “rightful choice” to be the party’s nominee for president on the eve of a Biden campaign rally in Detroit.

The letter came out amid a growing number of top donors and Democratic members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten of Grand Rapids, and others who are calling for the 81-year-old president to step aside for a new nominee atop the ticket. The critics are questioning Biden’s age and electability after a poor debate performance two weeks ago against Republican Donald Trump.

The 14 lawmakers who issued the new letter are members of the Michigan Legislature’s Detroit Caucus, including House Speaker Joe Tate and others representing parts of Detroit, which has been a central focus of the Biden reelection campaign’s early efforts in Michigan. Biden will be back in Detroit on Friday for a campaign rally.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, we have witnessed significant progress that directly impacts Black communities across Michigan and the nation at large,” the lawmakers said in the joint letter.

“The economic progress, health care expansion, and job creation we have seen under the leadership of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are too important to jeopardize.”

They said that, as a caucus, they’re committed to mobilizing communities, raising awareness and advocating for policies that benefit Black Michiganians. They highlighted policy wins such as capping insulin prices at $35 for 2 million state residents and strengthening Black-business ownership.

“We encourage all our members and allies to join us in supporting President Biden and Vice President Harris,” the letter states. “The stakes are too damn high to risk a second Donald Trump presidency.”

Besides Tate, other signers include Detroit Caucus Chair Rep. Tyrone Carter as well as Reps. Donovan McKinney, Helena Scott, Stephanie Young, Natalie Price, Regina Weiss, Michael McFall, Kimberly Edwards, Mai Xiong and Laurie Pohutsky. State Sens. Sylvia Santana, Stephanie Chang and Mary Cavanagh also signed onto the letter.

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Notably, some members of the Detroit Caucus didn’t sign the letter: State Sen. Erika Geiss of Taylor, whose district has a part of Detroit; state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak; and two Arab American lawmakers who have criticized Biden’s policy on the Israel-Gaza war: Reps. Abraham Aiyash, the Democratic floor leader from Hamtramck, and Alabas Farhat of Dearborn.

Geiss said Thursday, when contacted by The News, that she still supports the Biden-Harris ticket.

When asked whether he supports Biden as the nominee, Aiyash responded: “Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee. I am committed to building on our Democratic majority here in Michigan.” The other lawmakers didn’t immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment.

State Rep. Karen Whitsett, a third-term Detroit Democrat, also did not sign onto the letter. Whitsett drew censure from her party during the pandemic when she credited Republican then-President Trump for advocating for hydroxychloroquine, which she said saved her life when she contracted COVID-19. She met with Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence at the White House in April 2020 to thank them for their advocacy. 

When asked Thursday why she hadn’t signed the letter, Whitsett said, “Oh, there was a letter? I had no idea.”

She did not respond to a question regarding whether she supported Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee.

While praising Biden’s “incredible” legacy, Scholten on Thursday said her top concern was about governance, saying the American people can’t “unsee” what they witnessed with Biden’s performance on the debate stage and that she’s hearing from constituents that it’s shaken their confidence in his leadership.

Scholten was the first frontline member of Congress from a 2024 battleground state and the first freshman to urge Biden to step aside.

Biden has steadfastly refused to give up the race as he prepares to take on Trump in November, rebuking his critics and telling them to challenge him at the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago.

The Associated Press reported that the Biden campaign laid out what it sees as its path to keeping the White House in a new memo Thursday, saying that winning the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the “clearest pathway” to victory.

“There is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump,” said the memo from campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez that was obtained by The Associated Press.

The memo sought to brush back “hypothetical polling of alternative nominees ” as unreliable, and it said such surveys “do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter.”

mburke@detroitnews.com

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