Washington's largest private sector union is joining calls for President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign.
UFCW 3000, which represents more than 50,000 workers in the grocery, health care, cannabis and other sectors, made the pitch in a letter to the state's congressional delegation late Thursday.
In the letter, the union asks the state's U.S. House representatives and senators to publicly call for Biden to step aside, citing his diminishing prospects of defeating Donald Trump in November.
While praising the Biden-Harris administration for its "historic" accomplishments, including pro-union appointments to key federal positions, the union warned such advances would be at risk in a second Trump administration.
"We call on President Biden to pass the torch to the next generation. He has much to celebrate over his career of accomplishments fighting alongside working people, but it is time for him to retire with dignity, and campaign as hard as we all will for an alternative candidate. The stakes are simply too high to do otherwise," said the letter signed by the union's president Faye Guenther and secretary-treasurer Joe Mizrahi.
Two Democratic House members from the state already have asked Biden to stand down his reelection bid: Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal. Sen. Patty Murray also has expressed concern, saying Biden needs to do more to prove he can mount an energetic campaign to defeat Trump.
Ever since his foggy and fumbling performance in the June 27 presidential debate, Biden has faced increasing pressure to give up his reelection bid. But the president and his closest advisers have insisted he is staying in the race.
UFCW 3000 had earlier signaled its unease with Biden, endorsing an "uncommitted" delegates option in the state's March 12 presidential primary, due to concerns about his sagging poll numbers as well as his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
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