Republican party leaders in Massachusetts are questioning President Joe Biden’s fitness to remain in office after the 81-year-old withdrew from the 2024 presidential race on Sunday, endorsing his vice president just weeks ahead of the Democratic Party Convention. And they are objecting to the switch of nominees after the primary process has ended.

“I don’t think anybody expected it to be any different,” said Thomas Hodgson, the chairman of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign in Massachusetts. He is the former Bristol County sheriff.

“The Democrat Party has been hiding what everybody else has seen for a long time: He’s not capable of being president for another term, and frankly he isn’t capable of being president right now. He is cognitively challenged, as everybody knows, and so for us — for America — that’s not a good thing. Who knows how it will play out. If he continues to stay in there, as I said, it’s not a good thing. But given the fact that he’s never there, he works limited hours, it’s the best thing that could happen, and frankly should have happened a lot sooner.”

Although political pundits have speculated that Biden is suffering from cognitive decline and the president has made misstatements in recent weeks, Biden’s statement did not say he was withdrawing because of any health reasons.

Geoff Diehl, who ran for the governor in 2022 and is a supporter of Donald Trump also spoke out against Biden.

‘I’m glad that President Biden has withdrawn. Our country needs a strong leader & he had no mandate to proceed. Be aware, though, that a sitting President who won the primary process, just had a reelection campaign canceled by a handful of party insiders. An atrocious precedent.”

The statements echoed many of the state points Chris LaCivita and Susan Wiles, of Trump’s national campaign said on Sunday.

“Joe Biden cannot take himself out of a campaign for President because he is too mentally incompetent and still remain in the White House,” reads the statement. “Biden is a national security threat in great cognitive decline and a clear and present danger to every man, woman, and child in our country. The question then to Kamala Harris is simple: knowing that Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign because of his rapidly deteriorating condition, does Harris believe the people of America are safe and secure with Joe Biden in the White House for six more months?”