In the days following last week’s debate, President Joe Biden heard from a great many media figures calling him to abandon his re-election plans, but those weren’t the voices the Democratic incumbent was concerned about. There are also prominent party donors looking for alternatives, but they’re not Biden’s principal concern, either.

Of far greater interest were the party’s elected officials.

The Washington Post reported this week that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries “told his worried members to hold their fire for a few days to see how things shake out,” and for a while, they did exactly that. In fact, in the four days following the debate, the grand total of Democratic officials — in the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial offices nationwide — who publicly called on Biden to pass the torch was zero.

Now, that number is one: Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, a veteran lawmaker first elected 30 years ago, issued a written statement today asking the president to stand down. The Texas Tribune reported on the congressman’s unexpected written statement:

In his statement, Doggett thanked Biden for his service, saying he had “achieved much for our country at home and abroad,” including the post-pandemic recovery and restoring administrative norms after the Trump presidency. But he said Biden does not have the best chance of challenging Trump among the party, expressing an urgency among Democrats to take on a former president they say would be detrimental to the country’s democracy.

“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same,” Doggett continued. The statement went on to argue, “President Biden saved our democracy by delivering us from Trump in 2020. He must not deliver us to Trump in 2024.”

A spokesperson for the president’s re-election campaign responded to the news by saying that Biden is “staying in,” and noting the supportive comments he’s received from other congressional Democrats.

And while that’s true, those who watch Capitol Hill closely know that members are often reluctant to be the first to take a provocative position. What we don’t yet know is whether Doggett will be an isolated voice, or whether he just opened a door others will soon walk through.

Complicating matters, while Doggett is the first to take this bold step, it’s probably fair to say that the party over the last 48 hours hasn’t exactly shown the White House an unyielding and unbreakable wall of solid support.

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, for example, appeared on MSNBC earlier today and said, “I think it’s a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition?”

Also today, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, a longtime Biden ally and former member of the House leadership, said during an MSNBC interview that Democrats should support Vice President Kamala Harris, “whether she’s in second place or at the top of the ticket.”

Yesterday, Andy Beshear, Kentucky’s governor and a Democrat who’s rumored to have national ambitions, also hedged on Biden’s future, while Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said he was surprised and “pretty horrified” by the president’s appearance at last week’s debate.

A day earlier, Rep. Jamie Raskin also appeared open to a change on his party’s ticket. “We’re having a serious conversation about what to do,” the Maryland Democrat told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi. Raskin, an influential voice in Democratic politics, added, “One thing I can tell you is that regardless of what President Biden decides, our party is going to be unified. … Whether he’s the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he is going to be the keynote speaker at our convention. He will be the figure that we rally around to move forward and beat the forces of authoritarianism and reaction in the country.”

The on-air comments, at a minimum, suggested that Raskin sees Biden’s future as unresolved. Doggett’s statement serves as a reminder that others in the party have arrived at the same conclusion.