California Governor Gavin Newsom, acting as a surrogate for President Biden following Thursday night’s debate, once again deflected questions over whether he might potentially replace Biden on the Democratic ticket.
“No, our nominee is Joe Biden,” Newsom told reporters. “I’m looking forward to voting for him in November.”
Calls for Biden to step aside intensified after the president’s lackluster performance Thursday night. Many prominent Democrats are now openly expressing concern that he can no longer lead the party to victory over Donald Trump in November.
“I’m not the only one whose heart is breaking right now. There’s a lot of people who watched this tonight and felt terribly for Joe Biden,” former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC. “I don’t know if things can be done to fix this.”
Newsom urged Democrats not to panic.
“I think it’s unhelpful. And I think it’s unnecessary. We’ve got to go in, we’ve got to keep our heads high,” Newsom said in an interview on MSNBC. “We’ve got to have the back of this president. You don’t turn back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?”
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Every state has already held its presidential primary. Democratic rules mandate that the delegates Biden won remain bound to support him at the party’s upcoming national convention unless he tells them he’s leaving the race.
Biden indicated that he had no plans to do that, telling supporters in Atlanta shortly after he left the debate stage, “Let’s keep going.” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt was even clearer, saying Friday: “Of course he’s not dropping out.”
The political parties control the conventions and their rules. The Democratic National Committee could convene before the convention opens on Aug. 19 and change how things will work, but that isn’t likely as long as Biden wants to continue seeking reelection.
The current rules read: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.