Democrats spent the hours following the first presidential debate dodging questions about President Biden’s fitness to lead the party and struggling to unify around a message about Biden's performance.President Joe Biden speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, asked about Democrats calling for Biden to drop out, said “that’s not my position.” When asked if Democrats can win back House with Biden on ticket he simply responded “yes.”“Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight and he didn't do it.” Indeed, Democrats are engaging in a collective hand-wringing after Biden’s debate performance last night – a debate that as NPR’s Domenico Montanaro wrote made them wonder “if they’d be better off with someone else as their nominee.
Others deflected criticism of Biden to focus on the many misleading or outright false statements Trump made during the debate.