Frustrated Democrats watch for debate fallout as Republicans pounce on Biden’s poor showing

CNN —

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat whose seat is crucial to maintaining his party’s slim Senate majority in November, faced a new attack ad Sunday from GOP challenger Dave McCormick’s campaign — one that Republicans across the country could emulate.

Casey, the McCormick ad claims, knew of President Joe Biden’s status, and stood by the president anyway.

The 35-second video features clips of Democratic operatives lamenting Biden’s poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump last week — and then features Casey publicly proclaiming that Biden is up for the job if he wins a second term. It ends with text across the screen: “When will Casey finally tell the truth?”

Casey, campaigning in Scranton on Monday, stood by Biden. “He had a bad night and debate, but I think people know what’s at stake,” he told reporters.

The McCormick video was an early glimpse at a new strategy House and Senate Republican groups have started to deploy as the consequences of the president’s shaky debate performance ripple through House, Senate and governor’s races across the country. Republicans are eager to turn the 81-year-old president’s struggles into an anvil, while Democrats gingerly navigate the most precarious moment to date in their bid to maintain control of the Senate and flip the GOP’s slim House majority this fall.

In the aftermath of Biden’s Thursday night debacle, Democratic members of Congress have largely stood behind the president in public.

That could change – very quickly – if post-debate polling and research show that Biden’s debate fallout is likely to cost Democrats the House come November. On CNN Tuesday morning, Rep. Mike Quigley, signaling an openness to replacing Biden at the top of