Balance of power: Dem rep says people will 'want to talk about' Biden status on ticket after debate
People will likely want to have a conversation about what the country saw on the presidential debate stage Thursday night, one Democratic congressman predicted after President Biden's decidedly weak performance.
"That's a question that people will, I'm sure, want to talk about," Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., replied when asked by Fox News Digital whether he believed that Biden should be the Democratic nominee for president.
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"But like I said, this is one night. I'm not going to judge the president's performance based on one night," he added.
Reports quickly emerged, even before the Thursday night debate had ended, alleging Democratic panic taking place about Biden and his ability to take on former President Trump in the November election. A hoarse Biden took the stage in Atlanta for the debate and came across as soft-spoken and at times confused. The performance was concerning enough that analysts on CNN and MSNBC agreed that Biden had done poorly.
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"No matter who you are as a lead performer, whether you're a basketball player or you're an opera singer, you can have a bad night," Morelle explained. "So I'm going to chalk this up to him having a bad night."
The Democrat's acknowledgment that some may want to discuss Biden's status on the ticket and potential alternate nominees comes as several other Democratic members of Congress were unwilling to say what they thought the president should do.
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When asked by Fox News Digital, multiple vulnerable Democrats in swing districts avoided answering if they believed Biden should remain on the ticket.
However, a number of Democrats, including surrogates for Biden's campaign, said they still support the president as the party's nominee, even after the debate.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said, "I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It wasn't Joe Biden, you know, the best. But I'm going to tell you, Donald Trump reinforced all the concerns that I've had."
Asked about whether he should still be the nominee, she said, "You know what? I'm not going to be part of all the hand-wringing in Washington. I know the kind of person I want to see in the presidency."
Despite concerns swirling about Biden following the debate, his campaign was clear on Friday, with spokesperson Seth Schuster telling Fox News Digital, "Of course he’s not dropping out."
"I know I'm not a young man … I don't debate as well as I used to," Biden said at a campaign appearance in North Carolina. "But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth."