Biden debate flop leads Democrats to call for new nominee — but replacing him is tough to do

President

Joe
Biden‘s

raspy,
unfocused,
often
inarticulate
and
widely
panned

debate
performance
stoked
deep
anxiety
among
Democrats
—
and
caused
some

commentators
and
fundraisers
to
openly
call
for
a
new
nominee
to
run
against
former
President

Donald
Trump.

But
replacing
Biden
as
the
party’s
pick
less
than
five
months
out
from
Election
Day
carries
enormous
political
risks
and
would
be
difficult,
if
not
impossible,
to
pull
off.

Right
now,
the
only
likely
way
Biden
could
be
replaced
is
if
he
willingly
ends
his
campaign.

And
Biden’s
aides
and
top
Democratic
officials
say
the
81-year-old
incumbent
has
no
plans
to
do
so.

If
he
did
drop
out,
Democrats
have
yet
to
identify
a
clear
alternative
candidate
to
swap
in.

But
the
panic
among
donors
and
party
officials
after
watching
Biden
falter
Thursday
night
in
his
debate
against
Trump
has
led
some
of
them
to
take
steps
to
get
Biden
out
of
the
race.

There
are
already
discussions
among
Democratic
fundraisers
about
trying
to
convince
congressional
leaders
—
Senate
Majority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer
in
particular
—
to
urge
Biden
to
announce
to
drop
out,
according
to
people
familiar
with
the
matter
who
were
granted
anonymity
to
speak
freely.

Schumer,
D-N.Y.,
is
a
top
target
for
donors
making
that
pitch
because
he
privately
has
voiced
concerns
about
Biden’s
standings
in
presidential
election
polls,
those
people
said.

Schumer
was
worried
before
the
debate
that
Biden
and
Trump
were
statistically
tied
nationally,
despite
the
Republican
challenger’s

conviction
in
his
New
York
criminal
hush
money
trial.

A
spokesman
for
Schumer
declined
to
comment
to
CNBC
but
pointed
to
a
social
media
post
the
majority
leader
published
after
the
debate.

Schumer
in
that
X
post
wrote:
“Tonight’s
debate
made
the
choice
clear:
Four
more
years
of
progress,
or
four
more
years
of
attacks
on
our
fundamental
rights
and
our
democracy.”

“We’ve
got
to
get
out
the
vote
for
Joe
Biden, Kamala
Harris,
and
a
Democratic
Senate
and
House!”
the
post
said.

That
spin
has
not
alleviated
the
post-debate
anxiety
felt
by
some
of
the
president’s
top
fundraisers.

Some
of
those
wealthy
donors
have
lost
trust
in
Biden’s
team,
believing
they
were
given
false
assurances
about
Biden’s
ability
to
take
on
Trump.

And
some
of
those
donors
who
already
planned
to
attend
a
high-dollar
fundraiser
Saturday
in
the

Hamptons
section
of
Long
Island
say
they
will
attend
the
event
to
judge
for
themselves
whether
Biden
can
continue
as
a
viable
candidate.

“Democrats
are
in
a
very
difficult
situation
because
it’s
late
in
the
campaign
for
a
change,”
said
Meena
Bose,
director
of
the
Peter
S.
Kalikow
Center
for
the
Study
of
the
American
Presidency
at
Hofstra
University,
in
an
interview
with
CNBC.

The
only
feasible
way
Bose
could
see
it
playing
out
is
with
Biden
throwing
his
full
support
behind
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
to
become
the
new
nominee.

Otherwise,
Democrats
have
a
wide-open
nomination
fight
just
a
few
months
before
the
Nov.
5
election,
she
said.

Bose
called
that
a
“disastrous”
prospect.”

“Vice
President
Harris
is
a
risky
choice,
but
certainly
has
the
visibility
and
is
the
logical
choice,”
said
Bose.

“It’s
difficult
to
see
how
you
open
up
the
Democratic
presidential
nomination
now
and
have
a
unified
path
to
victory
in
November,”
she
added.

However,
even
if
Biden
backed
Harris
to
replace
him
ahead
of
the
Democratic
National
Convention
in
August,
there
is
no
guarantee
that
the
delegates
he
has
won
so
far
will
shift
their
support
to
her.

Biden
has
won
nearly
all
of
the
roughly

4,000
Democratic-pledged
delegates,
far
exceeding
the
threshold
to
make
him
the
party
nominee.

If
Biden
refuses
to
drop
out
before
August,
the
only
opportunity
to
boot
him
as
nominee
would
be
at
the
Democratic
National
Convention
that
month.

It
is
technically
possible
that
Biden’s
delegates
could
abandon
him
en
masse
then
and
throw
open
the
convention
to
nominate
another
candidate.

Some
Democrats
who
want
an
alternative
to
Biden
but
are
concerned
about
Harris’
relatively
low
opinion
polls
and
rocky
campaign
history
have
looked
to
California
Gov.
Gavin
Newsom,
Ohio
Sen.
Sherrod
Brown,
Illinois
Gov.
J.B.
Pritzker
and
others
as
possible
contenders.

But
blocking
Biden
from
the
nomination
is
highly
improbable,
as
delegates
tend
to
be
strong
supporters
of
their
chosen
candidate.

“That
is
probably
the
worst-case
scenario,”
Bose
said.
“If
the
Democrats
are
going
to
have
a
change
at
the
top
of
the
ticket,
President
Biden
has
to
endorse
it
and,
frankly,
probably
initiate
it.”

The

DNC
rules
allow
for
the
party
to
select
another
presidential
nominee,
but
only
in
the
“event
of
death,
resignation
or
disability”
that
leaves
the
role
vacant.

Biden
at
a
rally
in
North
Carolina
on
Friday
afternoon
acknowledged
his
subpar
debate
performance
but
defended
his
ability
to
win
and
serve
as
president.

“I
know
I’m
not
a
young
man,
to
state
the
obvious,”
Biden
told
a
cheering
crowd.
“I
don’t
walk
as
easily
as
I
used
to,
I
don’t
speak
as
smoothly
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,
I
know
how
to
get
things
done,”
he
said.

“I
know,
like
millions
of
Americans
know,
when
you
get
knocked
down
you
get
back
up,”
he
said.
“I
give
you
my
word
as
a
Biden
I
would
not
be
running
again
if
I
didn’t
believe
with
all
my
heart
and
soul
I
can
do
this
job
because
quite
frankly,
the
stakes
are
too
high.”