(WHTM) — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick says members of President Joe Biden’s cabinet have a responsibility to consider invoking the 25th amendment to remove the President if they see a decline in his performance behind the scenes similar to his CNN debate performance.

The 25th Amendment to the Constitution lays out a process for replacing and/or removing the president if they are “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Ratified in 1967, the amendment has never been used to remove a President and was introduced to clarify who assumes the Presidency and Vice Presidency should a vacancy occur.

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This Week in Pennsylvania

McCormick addressed the possibility of the 25th Amendment being invoked to remove Biden while in Lancaster on Friday morning meeting veterans for a roundtable.

“I don’t think any American, listen, I was sad as an American to watch that debate but as a former soldier worrying about our commander in chief, that’s the guy in the situation room,” said McCormick. “I don’t know what’s happening in the situation room but if the guy that showed up in the debate is the guy who’s engaging in questions that affect the lives of our men and women in uniform, then the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of State and others have a responsibility to consider the 25th amendment.”

McCormick added, “We saw a man on the stage who was truly struggling and that was a sad moment to see our Commander in Chief struggling and I don’t wish that on anyone… but he’s also our Commander in Chief and so, we are at a precarious time in the world. We’re getting tested every single day, and so the founders provided for this. The 25th Amendment is essentially the mechanism by which even if the Commander in Chief doesn’t understand he’s in decline, that the Cabinet can act.”

The ratification of the 25th Amendment came less than five years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was signed by his former Vice President and successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson.

McCormick added “I’m not saying it should be invoked…(Cabinet Secretaries) should be asking themselves very hard questions.”

McCormick added that he “really believes” that this is the most important election of our lifetime

“I think that America is only as great as we make it, and it was a great experiment in the overall scope of history. We’re in the early days and I think we are deeply struggling with our economic policy, we’re struggling with our security, the wide open borders, we’re struggling with crime. These are the issues facing Pennsylvanians and our role in the world is being tested and challenged by adversaries. Iran, China, Russia. And so this is a moment where we need the right leadership in place to sort through these problems and get America back on track.”

In his second race for the U.S. Senate, McCormick is facing longtime Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey, who served with Biden when was a Senator from Delaware.

Casey has doubled down on his support for Biden despite some Democrats calling for the President to drop out of the race. The President has insisted he’s “staying in the race.”

“They call themselves best friends and certainly Bob Casey has a clear view of President Biden’s decline,” said McCormick.

Casey is scheduled to campaign with the president this weekend.

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