Democratic US Rep. Raskin asked Biden to consider quitting race

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin appealed to President Joe Biden early this month to consider ending his re-election campaign, urging the 81-year-old incumbent to weigh the opinion of fellow Democrats while stopping short of calling on him to drop out.

"There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd," Raskin wrote in a four-page letter dated July 6 and provided to Reuters on Thursday.

"Everything we believe in is on the line in the next four-and-a-half months," wrote Raskin, who led the second House of Representatives impeachment case against Donald Trump in 2021. "We have an overriding obligation to defeat the forces of resurgent monarchy and oppression."

The New York Times first reported the letter.

A growing chorus of Democrats have called on Biden to reconsider his candidacy, following a disastrous June 27 debate against Trump that raised fresh questions about Biden's ability to win, or to continue in his high-pressure job for four more years.

(This story has been refiled to say 'Democratic,' not 'Democrat,' and to delete an extraneous word, in the headline)

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone)