Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday stopped short of calling for Biden to step aside as the Democratic nominee, but backed Democratic Rep. Jim Himes’ decision to suggest that Biden should step aside.
At a press conference following an unrelated event in West Haven, Connecticut, Lamont told reporters that he and Himes are “very simpatico,” but that “I’m probably not a press release, petition type of guy, but I understood totally what he did and how he did it.”
In a statement on Thursday, Himes said, “We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism,” and added, “I no longer believe that is Joe Biden.”
Asked about these comments at the conference on Friday, Lamont added that he and Himes “agree on an awful lot of stuff. Maybe we try and influence the decision in different ways, but I think we come to the same conclusion.”
In a statement to NBC News, Julia Bergman, a spokesperson for Lamont, said that the governor has always been clear that it’s ultimately Biden’s decision whether or not he steps aside.
She added that Lamont is leaving shortly for a weeklong economic development trip to Germany and won’t be commenting further about Biden at this time.
Lamont is the first Democratic governor to come close to calling for Biden to step aside as the party’s nominee.
