Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said that former President Joe Biden should have exited the presidential race sooner, saying there’s “no doubt” the Democratic Party would have been better served had he done so. 

“Obviously, in retrospect, the president should have gotten out of the race earlier. There’s no doubt that the Democratic Party would have been better served by having the ability to have an open primary,” Murphy told NBC “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker Sunday. 

Biden abruptly dropped out of the presidential race in July 2024 following a disastrous debate with now-President Donald Trump in which he repeatedly appeared confused and flustered. Vice President Kamala Harris quickly took over as the nominee, with less than four months left to campaign.

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Biden’s fitness to serve in office has come under intense scrutiny in recent days with the publication of CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Politico reporter Alex Thompson’s book “Original Sin” which described the senior staff of the president attempting to hide his alleged cognitive decline from the public. Recordings of Biden’s Oct. 2023 testimony to Special Counsel Robert Hur were released, which showed Biden struggling to recall the date of his son Beau’s death.

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Murphy said judging Biden’s cognitive abilities via that recording wasn’t fair to the former president, since it is a “very emotional topic” for him. However, the Democratic lawmaker said voters clearly wanted a different candidate in 2024. However, he stopped short of saying that Biden was in decline while he was in office, saying that he saw a president who was “in control.”

Murphy said it was a mistake for the Democratic Party to not heed the calls from voters to nominate somebody younger and more competitive, in light of Trump’s victory.

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“By 2024, the American people have decided they wanted somebody new, they wanted somebody younger, and it was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to the voters earlier and set up a process that would have gotten us in a position where we could have been more competitive that fall,” he said.