Top Democrats rule out replacing Biden as candidate despite feeble debate performance

Debate between US President and Donald Trump caused wave of panic in Democratic Party

US President Joe Biden during a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina. Bloomberg

Democratic leaders on Sunday ruled out the idea of replacing US President Joe Biden as their nominee despite his feeble debate performance last week.

House of Representatives Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries acknowledged that Mr Biden suffered a setback in his debate with Donald Trump, but said “a setback is nothing more than a set-up for a comeback”.

“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,” Mr Jeffries told MSNBC.

Mr Biden's performance in the debate against Trump last Thursday caused a wave of panic to ripple through the Democratic Party, with commentators tearing into him as soon as the event ended.

During the debate, a hoarse-sounding Mr Biden – who later said he had a cold – delivered a shaky, halting performance in which he stumbled over his words.

AP reported that after the debate, Democratic donors across New York, Southern California and Silicon Valley privately expressed deep concerns about the viability of Mr Biden’s campaign and, in a series of text message chains and private conversations, discussed possible replacements.

The President's meandering answers and struggles to respond to Trump prompted The New York Times editorial board to declare on Friday that he should leave the race and that staying would be a “reckless gamble”.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution joined the call, saying he should withdraw “for the good of the nation he has served so admirably for half a century”.

But asked whether or not he thought Mr Biden should drop out of the race, Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, one of several Democrats regarded as a possible replacement, said: “Absolutely not.”

Mr Warnock told NBC that “bad debates happen” and that he is “with Joe Biden, and it's our assignment to make sure that he gets over the finish line come November”.

Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina agreed that Mr Biden should keep fighting.

“He should stay in this race. He should demonstrate it going forward his capacity to lead the country,” Mr Clyburn told CNN, blaming “preparation overload” and not advanced age for Mr Biden's lacklustre performance.

And former House speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted that “it's not about performance in a debate, it's about performance during a presidency”, highlighting Mr Biden's achievements in job creation, the environment and the economy.

But calls for Mr Biden to step aside have continued, and a post-debate CBS poll showed a 10-point jump in the number of Democrats who believe he should not be running for president, to 46 per cent from 36 per cent in February.