Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) on Tuesday became the first Democratic senator to publicly cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s chances against Donald Trump in November.

“Donald Trump is on track, I think, to win this election, and maybe win it by a landslide, and take with him the Senate and the House,” Bennett told CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday – after telling colleagues the same in private. “So for me, this isn’t a question about polling. It’s not a question about politics. It’s a moral question about the future of our country.”

“The White House, in the time since that disastrous debate, I think, has done nothing to really demonstrate that they have a plan to win this election,” he continued.

Watch:

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) got outed by the media for saying privately that Biden is on track to lose badly to Donald Trump. He went on CNN to own his comments publicly. Respect. This is an absolutely brutal clip if you’re inside the Biden White House right now. pic.twitter.com/oS7BWdkHJF

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 10, 2024

Bennet’s comments echo those of a growing number of congressional Democrats who say Biden’s reelection bid could hurt the entire party in down-ballot races this fall. As CNN reports, “Democrats, including those inside the administration, view this week as critical to Biden’s political survival, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill gathered privately for their weekly meetings on Tuesday.”

“The stakes could not be higher,” said Bennett, who says his voters have “deep concerns” over whether Biden can win.

Punchbowl News had a sobering take on the state of affairs for Democrats in their Wednesday AM newsletter, saying Biden has “made a mess of the Democratic party.“

Senate Democrats were far from united about whether Biden is the best person to defeat Trump. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told us that Biden needs to “continue to aggressively make his case” to his fellow Democratic senators in order to “earn full support.”

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill issued a statement Tuesday afternoon calling on Biden to step aside in favor of another Democratic candidate.

Fellow New Jersey Democratic Rep. Andy Kim — who’s running for Senate — walked right up the line of whether Biden should get out.

“What steps can we actually take right now [to replace Biden.] That’s where some of the confusion is. Especially with all the talk of what are the actual deadlines. It’s hard to kind of make a decision without fully understanding that. We need to get a better grasp on it,” said Kim.

Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders met privately on Tuesday morning with some of their most vulnerable members, for a conversation that was “honest, brutal and intense,” and left some members crying, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting.

Stephanopoulos Opines

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, meanwhile, told TMZ that he doesn’t think Biden can serve another four years.

The 63-year-old Stephanopoulos sat down for a closely-watched interview with Biden last week following the president’s disastrous debate performance last month against Donald Trump.

“Do you think Biden should step down?” the TMZ journalist asked the “Good Morning America” co-host and moderator of “This Week.”

“I don’t think he can serve four more years,” replied Stephanopoulos after a pause.

#GeorgeStephanopoulos just made a STUNNING comment: he told someone on the streets of #NewYork that he doesn’t think President #JoeBiden can serve another term! https://t.co/cFMK2Uxx4z pic.twitter.com/pxKkolFcGt

— TMZ (@TMZ) July 9, 2024

Stephanopoulos walked back his comment hours later, telling Puck News “Earlier today I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have.”

ABC News told the outlet: “George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.“

During the interview between Stephanopoulos and Biden, the president failed to tamp down concerns over his cognitive fitness to continue as president – claiming that he was “exhausted” and “sick” with a “bad cold” heading into the June 27 debate against Trump in Atlanta.

At another point in the interview, Biden rejected calls to exit the race, saying “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race’, I’d get out of the race, but the Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”