After Biden's shaky debate performance, Democrats' support is lukewarm

WASHINGTON – After months of watching their Republican colleagues answer for the chaos in their party, it was Congress’ Democratic lawmakers who had to respond to the tough questions on Friday.

The morning after President Joe Biden’s shocking first debate of the 2024 White House campaign against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump – marked by stumbles, freezes and an unforgettable gaffe that the Democratic incumbent “finally beat Medicare” – his party's elected officials were swarmed by reporters asking whether it was time to abandon Biden as their nominee.

Those lawmakers who may stand a chance of convincing Biden to drop out of the race, such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., ignored shouted questions as they entered the historic chamber. They kept their heads down, though they answered questions after they later emerged.

A number of Democratic staffers trailed their bosses to ensure they wouldn’t veer off message. Other Democrats quickly left the Capitol and ducked any questions about Biden’s debate performance, flying out of Washington for a week-long Fourth of July recess.

Lawmakers who did speak with reporters acknowledged Biden’s performance was not his best, but brushed off inquiries about whether he is the best choice to represent Democrats as they face off against Trump – the former president who many in the Democratic Party see as an existential threat to U.S. democracy.

“It was not his best time, but it was one event,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the former chairman of the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “His policies make sense for the country and a lot of us are sticking with him.”

The president “got off to a bad start,” said Pelosi, who added that she thought Biden later “came through okay on the issues.”

Biden performed “horribly” last night, Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said. “I think a lot of my friends are not at the logical point right now. I think people are panic stricken,” Cleaver said of his fellow Democrats’ calls to switch out Biden for a different nominee.

Democratic pundits and strategists have raised the prospect of holding an open contest at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August in an attempt to replace Biden with another nominee on the November ticket.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said it was “not my position” to say whether Biden should drop out of the race: “I stand behind the ticket.”

“Stay the course. Chill out,” said Clyburn to those in his party pushing for a replacement. He said it was “a poor performance,” but “who classifies the end result by one segment, one performance?”

“That was strike one,” he later added. “If this were a ball game, he’s got two more swings.”

“Joe Biden is going to be our nominee. End of story,” Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who was at at the debate as a surrogate on behalf of the Biden campaign, told reporters Friday. “We’re gonna unite behind Joe Biden.”

One of Biden's top campaign surrogates, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told reporters: "We have a great team of people that will help govern and that is what I'm going to continue to make the case for," in what appeared to be a tacit admission Biden needs others' help to lead.

There was little attempt from Democrats to spin the narrative given Biden’s shaky performance. Those that did tried to focus on Trump’s myriad false claims on the debate stage, including that he offered National Guard troops to protect the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Thompson blamed the debate moderators for not fact-checking Trump’s claims, despite the Biden campaign proposing the debates and agreeing to the parameters. It was Biden’s staffers, Thompson said, who erred.

“His advisors and others should have helped him come up with the ground rules for the debate and obviously most people would have chosen ground rules (so) at least people couldn’t get up and say something that factually wasn’t true,” Thompson said.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., acknowledged Biden had the opportunity to discredit Trump and rebuke his false claims, but “it didn’t happen.”

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., went further and said Biden should not proceed with a second debate against Trump, which is currently scheduled for September. A Biden campaign adviser told USA TODAY the president does not plan to drop out of the race and is committed to taking part in a second debate against Trump.

Democrats in competitive races rebuffed the electoral risks of having Biden at the top of the ticket.

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, said he doesn't think the debate performance will have "any impact" on the Senate race his colleague Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, is running against Sen. Ted Cruz in the Lone Star state.

"I think the American public wants a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate," Veasey said.

“The performance that I have between now and November and the record that I have voting in Congress – that’s what’s going to give people the confidence to reelect me in my district,” Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., one of the most vulnerable House Democrats said, declining to say whether he has concerns about Biden’s presence on the ticket.

“We’re a purple state. We’re always worried about Michigan,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., who is close to the state’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, an oft-mentioned contender for the Democratic nomination if Biden were not running. “I’m not part of the drama of this town that demands because somebody had a bad night we’re in a crisis. Let’s see what happens.”

Meanwhile, Republicans were gloating about Trump’s performance. Thursday night’s debate offered a massive sense of vindication for GOP lawmakers who have relentlessly attacked Biden over his age and mental fitness to serve.

“There was only one man on that stage who is capable and qualified of being elected president in the next term, and his name is Donald J. Trump,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters. “President Biden showed last night that he was weak, sadly, that he is feeble and he said a number of things that are just demonstrably untrue.”

Trump “demonstrated command talking about issues that are plaguing this country. As far as Joe Biden?” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., one of the nearly 20 Republicans seen as an option for Trump's vice-presidential running mate. Shrugging and cracking a smile, Donalds added: “My Democrat colleagues – I’ll let them talk about that.”

Contributing: Joey Garrison

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified one of the lawmakers who commented on President Biden's debate performance. The quote came from Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After Biden's debate performance, Dems shift tone on president