Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey said Monday that President Joe Biden could lead a strong race and serve a second term in the White House, standing next to his closest ally in the critical battle state after a disastrous debate performance That’s causing some Democrats in the country to question his candidacy.
Casey had not said anything about Biden’s performance before making his first public appearance since Thursday night’s debate, which included a campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the working-class city he shares with Biden and which the president mentioned by name during the debate.
Casey, who is also running for re-election in November, acknowledged that Biden had a poor debate but also indicated that voters have bigger concerns.
“He had a bad night and a bad debate, but I think people understand what’s at stake,” Casey told reporters, saying voters are more concerned about issues like abortion, labor, voting rights and the fate of democracy.
“I’ve been working on this for a while and I know his work,” Casey said. “And I also know that the American people and the people of Pennsylvania are going to focus on these races in the way that I just outlined.”
Casey declined to elaborate on why he thinks Biden is qualified, saying he is not concerned that Biden’s debate performance would affect his own Senate race.
Together, they lead the ticket in a state crucial to the Democrats’ fate in retaining the White House and the Senate. No Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania’s support since Harry S. Truman in 1948.
Casey’s opponent, former hedge fund executive David McCormick, like other Republicans on lower ballots, has been playing on Biden’s record. He has accused Casey of lying about Biden’s fitness to be president and suggested that Biden’s Cabinet consider removing him from office, using the 25th Amendment.
The president’s performance at last week’s debate prompted many donors, party strategists and rank-and-file DNC members to say publicly and privately that they want the 81-year-old Biden to step aside so the party can select a younger replacement at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Biden spent the weekend steadying his campaign and then, as planned, gathered with his family at Camp David, where they discussed the way forward.
The president and his team called his performance in the debates an exception, saying one bad night didn’t have to define him or jeopardize the election.
Biden told a Long Island fundraiser on Saturday that he didn’t have a “great night” at the debate, but that former President Donald Trump’s lies and recollections about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection had resonated more with undecided voters.
McCormick, for his part, has not commented on a blatant lie Trump told during the debate about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Trump falsely claimed that the attackers were “a relatively small number of people who went to the Capitol and in many cases were led in by police.”
