President Joe Biden's debate performance with former President Donald Trump shook nearly the entire Democratic Party, sparking calls from once-close allies for the elderly president to step down.

While most of the elected Democrats who hinted at Biden's withdrawal from the race are too cowardly to go on record with the call, according to Fox News, a Texas Democrat became the first in his party to say what needs to be said, out loud.

In a bombshell statement released over the weekend, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Texas, insisted that Biden failed to uphold his side of the bargain during the debate.

Doggett said the elderly president left too many unknowns about the future of the party, and said that was something he simply cannot blindly get behind.

What did he say?

The Texas Democrat held nothing back as he excoriated the president.

"President Biden has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump.

He added, "I had hoped that the debate would provide some momentum to change that. It did not. Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump's many lies,"

Our overriding consideration must be who has the best hope of saving our democracy from an authoritarian takeover by a criminal and his gang," he continued, calling on Biden to step down.

"Too much is at stake to risk a Trump victory – too great a risk to assume that what could not be turned around in a year, what was not turned around in the debate, can be turned around now."

"President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024,"

What else?

Doggett doubled down, calling on Biden to hang it up.

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. 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," Doggett said.

Many others in the media have shared similar sentiments.

So far, the White House has insisted that Biden is staying in the race.