Western Pa. Democratic delegates stick with Biden but cast debate performance as 'wake-up call'

Following President Joe Biden’s lackluster debate performance on Thursday night, alarmed liberal pundits wasted little time in suggesting that the president consider withdrawing from the race.

But Biden’s political allies, including Democratic delegates committed to the president’s reelection, are standing by the incumbent, even as they acknowledged his poor showing.

TribLive spoke on Friday to seven Democratic delegates across Southwestern Pennsylvania to gauge their sentiments following a debate against former President Donald Trump that generated shock and dismay among some Democrats because of Biden’s halting demeanor, raspy voice and sometimes barely intelligible comments.

While the delegates, by rule, are bound to Biden, all stressed their commitment to the president.

Some reiterated talking points from the Biden campaign, such as claims that the president was suffering from a cold and that Trump lied too often to counter.

Regardless, many delegates said the debate is providing extra motivation to rally the Pittsburgh-area’s liberal base.

Michelle McFall of Murrysville, Westmoreland County’s Democratic chair, is a delegate in the 12th Congressional District, encompassing Pittsburgh, much of Alle­gheny County and parts of Westmoreland County. She said Biden did not have the best night, but she isn’t giving up on the 81-year-old president.

McFall said the debate is serving more as a wake-up call than time to panic.

“If anything, this rattled Democrats that were coasting,” McFall said. “We woke up. We have to do our jobs. No one was freaking out. The message stays the same. If we lock in the voters we do know about, we are still fine.”

McFall said continuing to build a voter base around the contrasts between Trump and Biden is still a viable way forward for Democrats in Pennsylvania, particularly when it comes to abortion rights.

“If PA Democratic voters turnout, then we win,” she said. “And in a post Roe v. Wade world, it is easier to motivate voters.”

‘Still with Biden’

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, said Biden had a disappointing performance, but he was encouraged by the president’s speech during a rally Friday in North Carolina.

“One poor debate performance is a setback, but he still obviously has the capacity to speak forcefully and passionately to resonate with the base,” Frankel said.

He said Democrats have been galvanized following the debate, knowing their groundwork efforts need to step up to ensure Biden wins Pennsylvania, a key battleground state.

Frankel said his Pittsburgh-based district has some of the highest liberal turnout in the state, and he pledged to work to ensure those voters come out in November.

“We need to face the reality that in the battleground states and in Pennsylvania, we have our work cut out for us,” he said. “We have to make sure the Democrats are enthusiastic.”

Bibiana Boerio of Unity is a delegate in the 14th Congressional District. She is the former chief of staff of former Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and unsuccessfully ran for Congress herself in 2018.

Boerio hosted a debate watch party at her home full of people who arrived as Biden supporters — and left as Biden supporters. She wore a Biden ball cap on her walk Friday.

“I am not going to make excuses: the Biden performance was bad, but I’m going to say I’m still with the guy,” she said.

Boerio lauded Biden for being fact-based and prepared for policy discussion during the debate. She said he was able to get to many of his administration’s policy points.

She is aware that others have called for Biden to step down after the debate performance, but she said she doesn’t think that’s the answer.

“I am still with Biden,” she said. “I don’t think there’s another alternative that I will feel really as excited about because I think he’s the man for his time.”

Binary choice

Two of Pennsylvania’s top Democratic officials echoed many of these sentiments.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said on MSNBC Friday morning that Biden had a “bad debate night,” but that doesn’t change who Trump is and the impact of his policies.

“Donald Trump was a bad president, a bad president who ripped away our freedoms, a bad president who drove our economy into the ditch, a bad president who exacerbated the problems of climate change, and a guy who stood on the stage last night and not only lied about his past, but lied about the kinds of things he’s proposing for the future,” Shapiro said.

On social media site X, Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman referenced his own poor debate performance in 2022 as reason why Democrats shouldn’t panic. He said polls predicted he would lose after his debate against Republican Mehmet Oz, but he ended up beating Oz by five points and flipping a Senate seat.

I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on
Biden’s shoulder after the debate.

No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record. pic.twitter.com/NjWdUw5ugh

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) June 28, 2024

Still, some local allies haven’t spoken publicly about the debate. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, Rep. Chris Deluzio of Aspinwall and Swissvale’s Summer Lee have not made any statements about the debate. Calls to their campaigns were not returned.

Democratic Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas of Hempfield is also a delegate for Biden. He is standing with the president despite the debate.

“One debate performance doesn’t change the issues of the day, the challenge ahead of us and what’s at stake in this election,” he said, adding that the president’s debate performance should be balanced by the falsehoods uttered by Trump.

State Rep. Jessica Benham, D-South Side, said the debate didn’t change the binary choice of the election. She is a delegate for Biden, and remains behind him.

“I have certainly seen Biden speak more clearly and forcefully. But at the end of the day he still showed his compassion and care for working-class people that was not demonstrated by the other candidate,” Benham said. “I am still committed to the president, both with my vote and my delegate.”

JoJo Burgess is the mayor of Washington, Pa., and a well-known Biden ally. He filmed an ad spot praising Biden’s efforts passing the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law and supporting unions.

Burgess said Biden is still a viable candidate, mainly because his policies have helped Western Pennsylvania.

“He’s the best guy for the job,” Burgess said. “He’s shown with policies and legislation that he’s here for the people, and I’m going to ride with that.”

Morgan Overton is vice chair of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee and a Biden delegate.

She said too much is on the line for Democrats to give up on Biden now. She worried abortion rights will be stripped if Trump retakes the White House, which she said would disproportionately hurt Black women.

“As a Black woman in the country, there is too much at stake,” she said. “Our civil rights will unravel under a second Trump administration.”

Overton said that she won’t let herself wallow in dismay and give Trump an easier chance of winning because of one poor debate by Biden.

“A vote for Biden is to ensure my children won’t have to fight as hard as I did,” Overton said.

Chance of an alternate

Though local allies and delegates are united behind Biden, Lew Irwin, a Duquesne University political science professor, said it is possible, albeit unlikely, that the president could drop out.

Biden said Friday at the rally in North Carolina that he plans to stay in the race.

“I know I’m not a young man — to state the obvious,” he told the crowd in Raleigh. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as easy as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong, I know how to do this job.”

Ultimately, Irwin said, Biden is the only person who will decide if he remains the Democratic Party’s nominee.

Since the 1960s, the party has chosen nominees via the primary election process, ending the older model of open conventions, Irwin said.

Biden has already secured the necessary amount of delegates through the primary, and those delegates are bound to choose Biden, according to Irwin.

But Biden could reject the nomination, which would open up the convention to other Democratic nominees.

Irwin said he thinks this is unlikely, and even if it does happen, he wouldn’t expect it to occur instantaneously.

He said post-debate polling will play a role in Biden’s decision. If it looks like Biden’s and other Democrats’ chances were hurt by the debate, then he could drop out.

Irwin said the American public will have to marinate with their thoughts on the debate before any big decision will be made by Biden.

“Biden is a Democratic Party loyalist more than anything, and if he steps down, it will be because he thinks his presence is going to damage Dems across the board,” Irwin said.

If Biden were to step down, Irwin said a brokered convention is the most likely scenario.

In such a case, Irwin puts Democratic governors from swing or red states as the possible Biden replacement, including Shapiro, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper or Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

While unlikely, Irwin said, the chance of a brokered convention shouldn’t be ruled out. It would be historic, he said.

“We would have an opportunity to live through some real American history,” Irwin said.