Top Democrats on Sunday ruled out the possibility of replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee after a feeble debate performance and called on party members to focus instead on the consequences of a second Donald Trump presidency.
After days of hand-wringing about Biden and the outcome of the Nov. 5 election, Democrat leaders firmly rejected calls for their party to choose a younger presidential candidate. Biden, 81, was huddling with family members at the Camp David presidential retreat, with his political future a likely topic of discussion.
But the drumbeat of calls for Biden to step aside continued, and a post-debate CBS poll showed a 10-point jump in the number of Democrats who believe Biden should not be running for president, to 46% from 36% in February.
"The unfortunate truth is that Biden should withdraw from the race, for the good of the nation he has served so admirably for half a century," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said in an editorial on Sunday. "The shade of retirement is now necessary for President Biden."
"Absolutely not," responded Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, one of several Democrats seen as a possible replacement for Biden.
"Bad debates happen," he told NBC's Meet the Press program. "The question is, 'Who has Donald Trump ever shown up for other than himself and people like himself?' I'm with Joe Biden, and it's our assignment to make sure that he gets over the finish line come November."
House of Representatives Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who could become speaker next year if his party can take control of the House in November, acknowledged that Biden suffered a setback in his debate with former President Trump, the Republican candidate.
"I believe a setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback," he told MSNBC. "So the moment that we're in right now is a comeback moment, and it's going to require all of us to lean in, articulate a forward-looking message as to why the Democratic platform is best equipped to deal with the challenges facing the American people."
Another top House Democrat, Representative James Clyburn, agreed.
"He should stay in this race. He should demonstrate it going forward his capacity to lead the country," he told CNN.
During the debate, a hoarse-sounding Biden delivered a shaky, halting performance in which he stumbled over his words on several occasions. Some Democrats later said privately that the showing could prove to be a disqualifying factor.
Republicans blasted Democratic claims that Biden's poor debate performance was a one-off.
"This idea that Biden had a bad night, that's not the story. He's had a bad presidency, had a disastrous debate," Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told CNN.
But in his own debate performance, Trump unleashed a barrage of criticisms, many of which were well-worn falsehoods he has long repeated, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave, that Democrats support infanticide and that he actually won the 2020 election.
After a frenzied run of seven campaign events across four states since Thursday's debate, Biden headed to Camp David on Saturday for a pre-planned family gathering that includes a family photo shoot, according to two people familiar with the scheduling. The attendees include his wife, Jill Biden, as well as the Biden children and grandchildren.
While the trip had been planned for months, the timing and circumstances of Biden being surrounded by family members who have weighed heavily in his past decisions to run for the presidency have added to the scrutiny around the visit.
With Democratic leaders rallying around his candidacy, it will be up to Biden to decide whether he wants to end his re-election bid.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country, a group of some of the most influential members of the party.
The call was part pep talk, part planning meeting for the upcoming national convention, according to two people who were on the call who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions.
