ATLANTA– Above all, Joe Biden’s allies wanted him to demonstrate strength and energy on the debate stage to help calm things down to ask about the physical and mental acuity of the 81-year-old Democrat.
But on the biggest stage in American politics, Biden failed to live up to their modest expectations on Thursday night.
And towards the end of the 90 minutes confrontationThe Democratic president’s allies — party strategists and ordinary voters alike — were thrown into a frenzy after a debate performance punctuated by repeated stumbling, awkward pauses and a quiet speaking style that was often difficult to understand. Publicly and privately, Democrats wondered whether the party would even exist could or should replace him as the party’s presidential candidate against 78-year-old Republican former President Donald Trump this fall.
“I’m not the only one whose heart is breaking right now. There are a lot of people who saw this tonight and felt terribly for Joe Biden,” former Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC. “I don’t know if anything can be done to fix this.”
The biggest question for Biden now is whether the damage is permanent. Many voters have not yet tuned in for an election that is still more than four months away. The president and his allies are sitting on millions of dollars yet to be spent on advertising and swing state infrastructure. And there is precedent for fixing poor debate performances, including Barack Obama’s rebound from an uneven encounter with Mitt Romney in 2012. Democrat Johannes Fetterman then defeated a Republican rival in 2022 struggles through a debate several months after you have had a stroke.
Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign was always based on the gamble that voters would ultimately support an 81-year-old politician with a weak approval rating in a rematch that few Americans want. Despite such commitments, Biden’s team insisted he was uniquely positioned to prevent Trump from returning to the White House — just as he did four years ago.
They have long predicted that Biden’s winning political coalition would eventually embrace the Democratic president after being sufficiently reminded of Trump’s chaotic leadership. But there were few signs of such confidence in the wake of Biden’s disappointing debate performance.
“It was a slow start. That’s obvious to everyone. I’m not going to debate that,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. said on CNN after the debate. “I’m talking about the choice in November. I’m talking about one of the most important elections in our collective lives.”
Biden’s surrogates slowly made their way into the post-debate spin room in Atlanta. And when they finally emerged, they largely dodged questions from the press. Instead, they railed against Trump’s long list of debate falsehoods. Among other things, Trump did not deny that who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Governor of California Gavin Newsoma potential future presidential candidate who was Biden’s most prominent surrogate in the Atlanta spin room urged Democrats not to panic.
“I don’t think it helps. And I think it’s unnecessary. We’ve got to go in, we’ve got to hold our heads high,” Newsom said in an interview on MSNBC. “We need this president’s back. You don’t return because of one performance. What kind of party does that?”
Still, signs of anxiety were visible as Democrats began openly encouraging the party to find an alternative to Biden. Some party officials pointed to a social media post by former Obama campaign aide Ravi Gupta.
“Every Democrat I know is texting that this is bad,” Gupta wrote on X. “Just say it publicly and start the hard work of creating space in the convention for a selection process. I’d rather vote for a corpse than Trump, but this is a suicide mission.”
Under current Democratic Party rules, it would be difficult if not impossible to replace Biden as the party’s nominee without his cooperation or without party officials being willing to rewrite the rules at the August national convention.
The president won an overwhelming majority of Democratic delegates during the state-by-state primary process. And party rules state: “Delegates elected to the national convention and committed to a presidential candidate must honestly reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
But the DNC rules don’t have the same strict rules for “disloyal delegates” as the RNC, which ignores dissenting votes contrary to a delegate’s promised position.
Meanwhile, Republicans were thrilled with Biden’s lackluster performance. But Trump’s co-campaign manager dismissed rumors that Democrats would nominate someone other than Biden.
“There are so many political pundits on X, so we’re going to hear a lot from them over the next few days because they’ve all been running so many campaigns,” Chris LaCivita said sarcastically. “But the only way that’s going to happen is if Joe Biden voluntarily steps down, and he’s not going to do that.”
Thursday’s debate may be etched in voters’ memories for the foreseeable future, as Biden and Trump won’t see each other on the debate stage again for another 75 days.
LaCavita said Trump would be “with bells on” at the next debate. Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz confirmed that Biden would also attend the rematch.
But privately, Biden advisers suggested the campaign would never be won or lost in one meeting, conversation or debate. They pointed to plans to maintain an aggressive schedule in the coming weeks and months.
Biden was scheduled to campaign in North Carolina on Friday, while Harris was in Nevada.
Still, Biden supporters struggled to find any hope in the immediate aftermath of the debate.
“That was the worst performance in the history of televised presidential debates,” Tim Miller, a former Republican strategist turned ardent Biden supporter, said in the spin room, shaking his head in disbelief.
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Miller reported from Washington. AP journalists Bill Barrow and Darlene Superville in Atlanta; Jill Colvin in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed.