Foothills Democratic delegate considering nominating other Democrats rather than Biden

CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva spoke to the New York Times and is calling on President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race.

“If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere. What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of this race,” he told the Times.

Larry Bodine, a resident of the Foothills, is a Democratic National Convention delegate who is in charge of voting on the party’s nominees. The presidential nominee needs to win the majority of the votes from the delegates.

However, Bodine is considering voting for someone other than Biden after his performance at the first presidential debate last week.

“Many of them are very disappointed. Some of them are very angry and they’re looking for someone else to lead us to victory,” he said about everyday Democrats in the area he talks to.

Bodine agrees with Grijalva that there should be other nominees the party is considering, but still backs Biden because of his experience.

“Democrats have fantastic, fantastic talent, but elections are about winning,” Bodine said. “If someone else came to the fore, it would cause Democrats to rethink everything. It might open a lot of divisions.”

Division is something some people in the Foothills feel like Grijalva’s statement is already doing.

“He can think whatever he wants but it’s going to put chaos in everything,” Annette David said.

David lives in the Foothills and is a Democrat who is voting for Biden.

“The other choice is not in my ball park at all,” she said.

Foothills Republican Paul Farris is voting for former President Donald Trump and said Grijalva’s statement is justified.

“I don’t think they have a good candidate that could beat Trump,” he said.

However, he said he’s open to considering other candidates, even if they are a Democrat.

“If the Republicans surprise me and pulled out a better candidate, I would consider that candidate. Even if the Democrats came up with a good candidate, I would consider another candidate,” Farris said.

The White House said President Biden is not considering dropping out of the race.

Meanwhile, Bodine is still going to let people’s input guide his decision.

“I want to be super well-informed when I go and cast that vote,” he said.