Downballot Republicans Seize on Biden’s Halting Debate Performance

Republicans running for the U.S. Senate and House gleefully seized on President Biden’s stumbles in Thursday’s debate, betting they could use his performance to drag down their Democratic opponents.

Many have spent months trying to tie their foes to the president. But even as Mr. Biden trails in swing-state polls, Democratic incumbents in those states have proved resilient against their Republican challengers, sometimes outrunning the president by a dozen percentage points in surveys.

Now Republicans are sensing an opening with voters by questioning how Democrats could stand behind a president whose halting and raspy performance on Thursday reignited questions about his age and acuity.

David McCormick, the Republican businessman trying to oust Senator Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, called out Mr. Casey’s support for Mr. Biden in a post on X.

“Bob Casey has said over and over that his ‘close friend’ Joe Biden, with whom he votes 98 percent of the time, is fit to be president,” Mr. McCormick wrote. “What we all saw last night proves Casey is lying.”

In Arizona, where the Trump acolyte Kari Lake is trying to stop Representative Ruben Gallego from picking up the seat held by Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat turned independent who is not seeking re-election, Ms. Lake has tried repeatedly to compare Mr. Gallego to Mr. Biden. She has derided him as Mr. Biden’s “mini-me” and has said he is essentially the same as Mr. Biden, but 40 years younger.