Biden to meet with governors Wednesday, amid concerns after debate performance

President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has sent ripples through the Democratic Party, forcing lawmakers to confront a crisis that could upend the presidential election and change the course of American history.

The Democratic president has signaled he has no intention of withdrawing from the race against Donald Trump, despite a shaky and uneven debate that highlighted questions about Biden’s age and fitness to be president. But while Democrats argue that the stakes in the election are high — challenging nothing less than the foundations of American democracy — they are grappling with how to approach the 81-year-old who is supposed to lead the charge for their party.

Here’s how Democrats are handling the debate aftermath:

Start the alarm

Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett on Tuesday became the first sitting Democrat in Congress to call on Biden to drop out of the race. He praised Biden but said he had “an opportunity to foster a new generation of leaders from whom a candidate can be chosen to unite our country through an open and democratic process.”

“Knowing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not to himself, I hope he will make the painful and difficult decision to step down. I respectfully urge him to do so,” Doggett, 77, said.

Other Democrats in Congress have expressed concern in recent days not only about Biden’s performance in last week’s 90-minute debate, but also about the level of transparency Biden’s team has offered about his mental health. They’ve been tiptoeing toward the idea that Biden should step down.

“There’s a question on the minds of everyone in the Democratic Party … which is how do we defeat Donald Trump and how do we defeat the threat of authoritarianism,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a prominent Maryland Democrat, said Tuesday night on MSNBC.

He added that the question of whether Biden remains a candidate for president or Democrats choose someone else “is a moving target. It has to happen quickly.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told a local CBS affiliate that he was “horrified” by Biden’s performance and Trump’s lies during the debate.

“People want to be sure that this campaign is ready to go and win,” Mr. Whitehouse said. “The president and his team need to be frank with us about his health, and tell us that this is a real anomaly.”

Some worry that Biden’s weaknesses could dampen enthusiasm among potential voters, creating a domino effect that would hurt Democrats as they try to hold on to a slim Senate majority and regain control of the House. Second-tier Democrats are already confident they can outperform Biden in the swing election, but if large numbers of voters reject Biden, it could hurt them.

While several vulnerable Democrats have stopped short of calling for Biden to step down, they have also presented the situation in clear terms: If Biden continues, he will lose.

“The truth, I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump,” Washington Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said on an ABC television affiliate. “I know it’s hard, but I think the damage has been done by this debate.”

Support Biden

As Biden’s family urges him to stay in the race, attention is turning to key Democratic lawmakers who could potentially persuade the president to withdraw his nomination. So far, top Democratic leaders have mostly backed Biden in their public statements.

“There has been no discussion among senior leaders about anything other than making sure that we continue to articulate a compelling vision for the future to the American people on the important issues around the economy,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters in Pittsburgh on Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, published on X, the platform formerly known as TwitterAfter the debate, it showed voters that they had a choice between “four more years of progress, or four more years of attacks on our fundamental rights and our democracy.”

Biden spoke with congressional leaders this week, the White House said Tuesday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said they respect the opinions and thoughts of the concerned members of the party, adding that “that’s what makes this party different from the other side.”

Many Biden allies have criticized the media for obsessing over Biden’s mental abilities, saying the focus should instead be on Trump’s record, as he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election he lost to Biden and repeatedly lied.

Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who is on Biden’s campaign committee, acknowledged the debate was not what she had hoped for, but added: “I think we need to have a real conversation about the things that Donald Trump has said. It’s beyond disgusting.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat who was one of Biden’s representatives at the debate, dismissed those concerns.

“We are 100 percent behind Joe Biden,” he said Friday. “That’s crystal clear, period. He’s our candidate. Anything outside of that is just political chatter.”

Feel it

The June 27 debate injected new momentum into an election that had been marked by few surprises. Voters knew Biden and Trump and had already chosen between the two in 2020.

Still, many House Democrats were caught in a state of limbo as they faced a barrage of questions the morning after the debate. Some called it a bad night for Biden, but others are closely watching voter reaction and Biden’s ability to quickly recover politically.

Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who helped Biden win the Democratic nomination in 2020, urged his party last week to “stay the course.”

On Tuesday, Clyburn was still supporting Biden’s presidential bid, but he also told MSNBC that “Biden may decide otherwise.” Clyburn added that he would support Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden stepped down.

Clyburn and others, such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, are urging Biden to prove to the American people that he is ready to stay in office for four more years by getting out there and taking tough interviews — something he has rarely done in recent years. Biden will give an interview to ABC, his first since the debate, later this week.

Clyburn and Pelosi both told MSNBC midday Tuesday that they had not spoken directly with Biden since the debate. But Pelosi still stressed that the president is “in top form, in terms of knowing the issues and the problems.”

She called on Biden and Trump, 78, to undergo health and mental health tests.

“I think it’s a legitimate question whether this is an episode or a condition. So when people ask that question, it’s a legitimate question – for both candidates,” said Nancy Pelosi, 84.

Meanwhile, grassroots elected officials are watching how the measure fares in the polls and whether it carries over to local elections. For months, vulnerable Democrats in the House have been distancing themselves from some of Biden’s policies. That could become more pronounced after the debate.

Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate Democrat from Maine, was already looking for ways to convince potential Trump voters to support him.

“Even though I don’t intend to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win,” Golden said in an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News. “And I’m okay with that.”

Associated Press journalist Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.