Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva became the latest Democratic House member, to call for President Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race on Wednesday, while Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton expressed "grave concerns" about Biden's age and ability to compete with former President Donald Trump.

“If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” Grijalva told the New York Times. “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.”

Grijalva told the Times that the president was a “good man,” but that Trump winning the election would result in the Biden administration’s achievements going “down the sewer.”

Moulton said in a statement later on Wednesday that while he respects Biden he has "grave concerns about his ability to defeat Donald Trump," according to the Associated Press and other outlets.

"When your current strategy isn't working, it's rarely the right decision to double down. President Biden is not going to get younger," Moulton said. "Since Thursday night, I have been having nonstop, tough, honest conversations with colleagues and other Democrats. I'm taking time to seriously consider the best strategy for Democrats to win this election and set our country on a positive path forward."

"We should have all viable options on the table," Moulton added. The Massachusetts Democrat briefly ran for president iduring the 2020 campaign, but dropped out in August 2019.

On Tuesday, Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett was the first Democratic lawmaker in Washington to call for Biden to step aside after his debate performance last week. Other prominent former officials have made similar calls, but so far Doggett, Grijalva and Moulton are the only sitting members of Congress to do so.

“We have to win this race, and we have to hold the House and hold the Senate,” Mr. Grijalva said, according to the Times. He did not name a favored candidate to replace Biden, according to the report, but mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris as one option.

Earlier on Wednesday, Biden and Harris insisted to campaign staff that the Democratic incumbent planned on staying in the race, according to a campaign official.

Grijalva’s office did not immediately return a request for additional comment. The Biden campaign did not directly address Grijalva’s comments to the Times, instead sharing a quote from Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano when reached for comment by Spectrum News.

"We know Donald Trump is dangerous — he’s vowed to cut Medicare and Social Security, to ban abortion nationwide and to be a dictator on ‘day one.’ Arizonans overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden to be our nominee and remain fully committed to re-electing him, stopping a second Trump term, and fighting for a brighter future for Arizona," Bejarano said. "In 2020, we rejected Donald Trump's conspiracy theories and election denialism and in 2024 we will do it again.”

Biden has faced growing calls to drop out from members of his party and the media as his poll numbers drop precipitously in the wake of his poor performance at his first presidential debate last Thursday with Trump in Atlanta. On Wednesday, a New York Times/Siena College poll of registered voters had Trump beating Biden 49% to 41% and a Wall Street Journal poll had Trump up 48% to 42%, far worse than where he was before the debate. The Journal poll found 80% of registered voters believe the 81-year-old Biden is too old for the job.

Polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight has Trump averaging around 42% support in national polls to Biden’s 40% after the pair were virtually tied last week.

The growing list of calls for Biden to step aside have come from former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, as well as the editorial boards of the New York Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Boston Globe.

But Doggett, 77, and Grijalva, 76, are the only two sitting federal lawmakers to make the explicit call so far.

Grijalva represents a deep-blue district on the Arizona-Mexico border and voted with Biden 100% of the time in 2021 and 2022 and 96.3% in 2023, according to FiveThirtyEight. Moulton voted with Biden 98.2% of the time in 2021 and 2022, and 96.2% of the time in 2023. And Doggett voted with Biden 99.1% of the time during the first two years of his term and 94.4% of the time in 2023. 

“My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved,” Doggett said in a statement. “Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”

Other top Democrats have expressed concerns about Biden and his ability — including close allies Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn — but even they continue to throw their support behind him. Biden spoke with Pelosi, Clyburn, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons over the last two days for the first time since the debate, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed. He was also meeting with Democratic governors at the White House.

“I am running. I am the leader of the Democratic Party. No one is pushing me out. I’ve been knocked down before and counted out my whole life. When you get knocked down you get back up,” Biden said to campaign staff, according to Emmy Ruiz, the White House’s director of political strategy and outreach.

"I'm in this race to the end and we're going to win because when Democrats unite, we will always win. Just as we beat Donald Trump in 2020, we're going to beat him again in 2024," Biden also said according to a source familiar with the call. 

Biden has not taken questions from the media publicly since the debate, but recorded two interviews with Black radio hosts that are set to air on Thursday and is scheduled to do an interview with ABC News that will air this weekend.

Reed Hastings, a co-founder of Netflix and major Democratic party donor, also told the Times on Wednesday that “Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous.”