In the wake of growing calls from elected Democrats for President Joe Biden to step aside as the party's nominee, leaders of the Peoria County Democrats say they have no position at this time.
Eric Sorensen, a freshman Democrat representing parts of the Greater Peoria area in the 17th Congressional District, put out a statement Thursday night urging Biden to not seek re-election.
The statement closely followed a rare solo press conference from the presumptive presidential nominee. It also comes on the heels of a debate performance by the incumbent that some Democratic leadership found concerning. Sorensen’s statement is a shift from his position just one week ago.
He is the third member of Illinois' Democratic congressional delegation to make the call.
For Biden's part, he has remained resolute on staying in the race.
Rick Fox, chair of the Peoria Democratic Party, said Sorensen’s announcement came as a surprise to him.
“It was not expected by me, personally, ahead of time,” he said. “But I, it certainly, you know, the congressman is, I respect him for, you know, taking a position that was, I’m sure, a difficult one to take. If he’s going with what his gut is telling him, I respect him for that.”
As for the county party that Fox leads, their position right now is that they don’t have a position.
“This is a tough thing for the party,” he said. “There is, within our Peoria County group, there are folks that fall on both sides of this. It’s not something that we as a local party have taken a position on at this point.”
However, Fox said there could be some movement toward agreement as November draws closer.
“It certainly is, I think, important to us as a party to deal with this as quickly as we can,” he said. “And it is going to be a difficult conversation going forward here, but hopefully we can find a way to come to some consensus.”
However the difficult conversation shakes out, Fox said Democratic voters in Peoria County shouldn’t be discouraged from supporting the party, adding there’s a set of values that are consistent for their candidates, regardless of who's on the ballot.
“From the county board level up to the top,” said Fox, “we have people that have the working people of Peoria County in mind as we’re trying to lead at all levels.”
