Hill Democrats resist calls to replace Biden following debate – Washington Examiner

Congressional Democrats acknowledged that President Joe Biden did poorly in his first presidential debate with former President Donald Trump on Thursday but stopped short of saying he should be replaced as the nominee — at least for now. 

Democratic lawmakers were quick to come to Biden’s defense in the aftermath of the debate, contrasting his performance with the “lies” of the former president even as they admitted his stumbles were a setback. Meanwhile, top party leaders generally resisted the call from some Democratic operatives for Biden to step down so another candidate can take his place at the top of the ticket.

“Until he articulates a way forward in terms of his vision for America at this moment, I’m going to reserve comment about anything relative to where we are at this moment, other than to say I stand behind the ticket,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters Friday. “I stand behind the Senate Democratic majority, and, of course, we’re going to do everything that we need to do as House Democrats to win.”

House Democratic Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) delivered similarly muted support for Biden when asked if the president should withdraw.

“Joe Biden’s our Democratic nominee for president,” he said.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also shot down questions about whether Democrats should consider another nominee. She noted Biden was prepared to admit his performance “wasn’t great” but that from “a values standpoint, he far outshone” Trump on the debate stage. 

While Biden allies on Capitol Hill acknowledged a worse-than-expected performance, they said the president still has four months to make his case — arguing the president is still the best candidate to articulate the Democratic platform. 

“That was strike one. If this were a ballgame, he’d get two more swings,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a top Biden ally credited with helping the president win in 2020. “You get three strikes in baseball.”

“Let’s be really clear. I think what we had last night was an issue of maybe style and substance. But on the substance, the president articulated his message very clearly,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA). “There’s nobody I would rather have as our nominee than Joe Biden. He’s the only person in this country that’s defeated Donald Trump.”

As they grappled with the fallout, many Democrats blamed Biden’s slow start and verbal stumbles on factors outside his control, insisting his performance was not indicative of his time in office. Among their explanations was a campaign talking point that Biden was battling a cold, his advisers failing to properly prepare him, and the debate moderators declining to live fact-check Trump’s remarks.

“We’ve both had bad days. We’ve both had bad nights. One night is not who a person is,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), a member of leadership.

“I was someone who hasn’t had a voice for a month. It was really nice that I couldn’t talk to you guys,” she added.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), former chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, accused “advisers and others” for failing to “have helped him come up with the ground rules for the debate.”

“Most people would have chosen ground rules that at least [Trump] couldn’t get up and say something that factually wasn’t true,” Thompson said.

It was a common rebuttal for Democrats, who lamented that the conversation has shifted to Biden’s mental acuity rather than focusing on Trump’s performance, which many lawmakers argued was full of lies and misleading attacks on the president. 

“Here’s what I know. I watched 90 minutes of former President Trump lying about everything. He’s a congenital liar,” said Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT). 

When asked if Biden should still be considered a viable candidate, Balint again turned it to the former president.

“I would rather have a man who is kind, who has values, who has a record of standing up for regular Americans and believes in something larger than themselves,” she said. “Trump does not believe in something larger than himself. All he believes in is Trump.”

Other Biden allies pushed to use the debate as a referendum on Trump and the Republican Party at large, arguing that even if voters are concerned about Biden’s mental fitness, the president “has a team” of Democrats across the country to help him lead. 

“I think we as a team can do it,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who serves as a surrogate for Biden’s campaign. “I think he’s going to need all of the talented folks across our governors, our congresspeople, our senators to rally around him.”

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Meanwhile, the head of the Democratic National Committee maintained Biden would remain the party’s nominee, conceding that while Biden’s debate performance “started off a little slow,” he managed to end strong.

“This election was always going to be close, and it’s going to be close,” said DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison on Friday. “That means we got to put in the hard work and the efforts to make sure that we win this. This is not just about Democrats winning. It’s about Americans’ freedom.”