July 5 – When Marpheen Chann watched the presidential debate last week, it was clear to him that President Biden was not performing at his best.
But the Portland Democrat said he is still supporting Biden for president because he believes he is the better candidate in the race and that it is too late for the party to rally support for someone else.
“The stakes of this election are too high for him as a candidate to step down,” Chann said. “I think a lot of things can happen between now and (November), but for now I trust him and I believe that if he and his family believe he can do it, the best bet is to continue to support President Biden.”
Chann is one of 32 delegates Maine Democrats will send to next month’s Democratic National Convention, where the party will nominate a presidential candidate. Several delegates said this week that despite Biden’s bumbling debate performance last week, they still support his re-election bid and plan to back him at the convention in August.
The debate wasn’t great, they said, but the reaction to Biden’s performance has overshadowed larger concerns about the former president. Donald Trumppolicies and positions of.
“I’m proud of my commitment (to Biden),” said Holly Sargent, a Democratic state representative from York and a delegate to this year’s convention. “This is a president who has done so much for this country across a range of policies, getting us out of COVID and representing us in a way that we can be proud of.”
Sargent said the debate was “clearly a difficult night” for Biden, but she is more interested in what his administration has done.
“I think he’s put together an extraordinary team and I want to see it continue like that,” she said.
SUPPORT FOR BIDEN OVERCOMES
Betty Johnson, 84, of Lincolnville, has been to nearly every Democratic national convention since 1996, most recently this year in Chicago. Johnson is treasurer of the state party and a Waldo County commissioner.
She will represent Maine’s 2nd congressional district at the convention and was also chosen as one of the state’s four electors. Johnson said she is a pledged delegate for Biden.
“I’m very supportive of Joe Biden,” Johnson said. “We have to win. I’ll do what I have to do to represent the Democrats at the convention and elect Biden. It’s going to be tough. I think the energy is starting to flow a little bit more.”
Ryan Fecteau, a former Democratic speaker of the Maine House of Representatives who is from Biddeford, will be attending his first national convention as a delegate. He said it will be a good opportunity for Democrats to come together and unite around shared values that contrast with the Republican and Trump platforms.
Fecteau said he didn’t watch the entire debate, but he understands it was “not the best start.”
Still, he’s happy to support Biden. As someone who is openly gay, Fecteau said he’s confident Biden’s administration will continue to support his rights.
“I know that President Biden will make sure that my rights are protected, that the rights of people of color are protected, that the rights of women are protected,” he said. “For me, it’s not that I can’t voluntarily participate or vote for a third person. It comes down to the rights of my family, my rights and my ability to exist and my trust that our president and his administration will support people like me.”
Chann, who serves on Portland’s Planning Board and is a former member of the city’s Charter Commission, said he also worries that it’s too late for Democrats to effectively organize around another candidate.
“We can’t be too shortsighted because of one debate performance,” he said. “We have to think about the costs to us in terms of messaging, campaign momentum and all the things that go into an election and that happen in the years leading up to the election … I think as Democrats we have to be careful about being too shortsighted.”
SUPER DEPUTIES ALSO COME IN
Of Maine’s 32 delegates, 24 are committed to Biden, who won the state’s primary last month, while eight are considered “super delegates” who are not tied to a specific candidate and can vote for whomever they want.
The eight superdelegates, including Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and party leaders, vote only if there is a second round of voting in the nominating process.
Bev Uhlenhake, chair of the Maine Democratic Party and superdelegate, said she is eager to support Biden.
Last week’s debate offered a glimpse into the differences between Biden and Trump, Uhlenhake said.
“President Biden kept talking about how he was going to move the nation forward,” she said. “President Trump wants to pull us back. … It’s a stark contrast, and I want to go with the person who is going to move us forward.”
Mills also reaffirmed her support for Biden after the debate. On Wednesday, she said after a meeting between the president and Democratic governors that he has her backing. However, she added that the debate was difficult to watch and that it would be good for him to reassure voters.
Golden published an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News on Tuesday saying he is confident Trump will win the election, “and I’m OK with that.”
Golden, through a spokesman, declined a request from the Press Herald for an interview about the upcoming convention and his op-ed.
Pingree spokespeople did not respond to questions about her support for Biden.
BJ McCollister, a Maine Democratic National Committee delegate and senior adviser to the Biden-Harris campaign in Maine, said in a statement that Trump “poses the greatest threat in modern history to our democracy, our economy and our freedoms.”
“The only way to defeat him is to re-elect President Biden, who has delivered time and time again for Maine people like me, including lowering costs for families, defending our freedoms and investing millions in our communities,” McCollister said. “I am proud to be a delegate for President Biden — he continues to have my unwavering support.”
DEBATE REACTION
Several delegates said they were disappointed with the president’s performance during last week’s debate, but said too much emphasis was placed on Biden’s shortcomings and not Trump’s.
Johnson said she had followed the debate and was not surprised by the outcome.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be a good debate,” Johnson said. “How can you debate someone like that? It’s not Joe Biden’s fault. I just didn’t think it was a good debate for either of us.”
John Hennessy, of Portland, will go to Chicago as an at-large delegate who has committed to Biden. Hennessy has been active in Maine politics for years and is now president of EqualityMaine, the state’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.
Hennessy said he was able to watch most of the debate and still supports Biden.
“I was certainly disappointed that the president couldn’t cut through Trump’s litany of lies,” Hennessy said. “I realize everyone’s having a bad 90 minutes. We’re going to get through it with (Biden) at the top of our ticket.”
The August convention will be Vicky Cohen’s first. Cohen, of Farmington, will represent the 2nd District as a pledged delegate for Biden and said she is “over the moon.”
She watched the debate and said she was frustrated that the reactions focused primarily on Biden’s performance.
“You have two men with very different speaking styles and two dramatically different visions for the country,” Cohen said. “One candidate spewed a tsunami of lies, and the other one stutters. Yet he has a vision to protect democracy and fight for us, for the middle class in America, and he’s had a phenomenal three-year term so far.”
Cohen said she campaigned for Barack Obama in Maine but didn’t really get involved in politics until after Trump’s election in 2016.
In addition to her work as a math specialist at the W.G. Mallet School in Farmington, she serves as secretary for the state party and for the Franklin County Democrats.
“It’s become a 24/7 passion and commitment for me. My main focus is outreach, listening to what the concerns are of voters in Franklin County,” Cohen said.
Contributor Joe Lawlor contributed to this report.
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