House Democrats Close Ranks Around Biden After Debate Night Debacle

Faced with an unsteady debate performance by Joe Biden, House Democrats rallied around their presidential nominee Friday, citing everything from a cold to overpreparation to the debate setting itself as possible explanations.

Biden sometimes appeared to lose his train of thought and missed obvious openings to go on the attack in the CNN debate Thursday night. The performance led some party operatives and commentators to wonder if Biden should step back from the race in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris or some other Democrat.

But on the last day in Washington for House lawmakers before they leave for a week-long break, many Democratic representatives said Biden may have been thrown off his game by a variety of factors.

“I’m not sure if it was too much preparation and not enough strategy. But it’s the beginning, not the end,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) also pointed to the possibility Biden had overprepared. Biden reportedly spent much of his time in the days leading up to the debate rehearsing.

“Sometimes the spontaneity of the conversation is better than the script,” Neal said. “In most of these debates, you memorize everything. I’ve helped public debaters and I think that sometimes consultants can overdo it with the script.”

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who was on the debate site as an invitee of the campaign, said he learned early in the debate Biden was feeling under the weather.

“Clearly he had some type of sore throat, there’s no question,” Garcia. “Voters aren’t going to make a decision because someone had a sore throat. They’re going to make a decision because you had one person with a record and another person who is a criminal who led an attack on the Capitol.”

Rep