As Republicans across the U.S. urge Democratic President Joe Biden to step down after recently announcing he won’t seek reelection, one prominent Mississippi Democrat is joining in on the calls for Biden to resign from his post immediately.
De’Keither Stamps, who recently flipped a spot on the state’s otherwise GOP-filled public service commission from red to blue, used part of his stump speech at the Neshoba County Fair on Wednesday to address the current state of American politics.
While Stamps did not encourage Mississippians to vote one way or another in this year’s presidential election, he made it clear that he believes Biden should go ahead and hand the next five months of the presidency to current vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
“One of the best ways that we feel that Mississippi can move forward and Washington, D.C. can move forward is for the president of the United States to resign,” Stamps said to an audience of politicos gathered at Founder’s Square.
The central district commissioner expounded that with a hypothetical Biden resignation, Harris would be more inclined to work closer with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to ensure Congress moves forward until a new president is sworn in on January 20, 2025.
“I believe that Vice President Harris represents some of the same principles of Biden. The speaker of the House represents some of the same principles as President Trump,” Stamps said. “Seeing those two put aside their brutal differences and work together for the next six months is probably some of the best tonic or medicine this country needs – to see people working together.”
Stamps also addressed the recent assassination attempt of Trump, the former president and once again Republican nominee, calling for officials from both side of the aisle to work together to restore unity.
“I want to ask you to pray for our nation. Our nation is in a trying situation right now. I know the media cycle goes fast, but that tragedy that happened to former President Trump, that shows how deeply divided we are,” Stamps said, adding that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation was appropriate following a failure by the agency to apprehend the subject prior to shots being fired on July 13.
Ty Pinkins, the Democratic nominee for one of Mississippi’s two U.S. Senate seats, took the stage immediately after Stamps but did not address the assassination attempt or the possibility of Biden resigning from office.
