Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump faced off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 race. Below are reactions from lawmakers, political analysts, strategists and leaders of advocacy groups:
Kamala Harris, Vice President
“Tonight we saw the president make a very clear contrast to Donald Trump on all of the issues that are important to the American people. Yes, it was a slow start, but it was a strong finish,” Harris told CNN.
“People can debate issues of style, but ultimately this election… should be about substance,” he said.
“I’m not going to spend all night with you talking about the last 90 minutes when I’ve been watching your performance for the last three and a half years.”
Top Biden donors, who did not wish to be named
“It makes no sense. His performance was disqualifying. There are calls for a mediation conference. Whitmer, Pritzker, Newsom, Beshear. These could all be options. It’s inevitable.”
The donor said Jill Biden would likely have to persuade him. “He (Biden) is a stubborn guy… It cannot be described how bad this performance was.”
The donor said he believed Andy Beshear, the popular Democratic governor of Kentucky, a heavily Republican state at the federal level, would be the likely winner.
“He won in red Kentucky. He would be a great candidate who could still bring it home. I don’t think Newsom (California’s Democratic governor) would win.”
The donor predicted that fundraising would “take over”. “Money comes after enthusiasm. How can anyone with a straight face say donate to elect Joe? … I will continue to fundraise for him. What else can we all do? There is no alternative.”
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock
“I would be concerned if the president didn’t have a record to stand on, but the reality is this is a man who passed landmark legislation,” Warnock said after the debate.
Julian Castro, former HUD secretary under President Barack Obama
“Tonight was completely predictable. The bar for Biden going into the debate was very low and he failed to even cross that bar,” Castro said on the social media network X. “He seemed unprepared, lost and not strong enough to effectively confront a constantly lying Trump.”
Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of The Cook Political Report and a prominent political analyst
Walters said the debate “only reminded voters of Biden’s weaknesses, particularly his health and stamina.” “Certainly, Trump did not win this debate as much as Biden lost it. Trump told many falsehoods and lies. He failed to make a positive case for his second term, spending more time prosecuting Biden’s failures. But, Trump is leading in the polls and does not need a ‘rest’ like Biden does.”
“I don’t think this debate will sway undecided voters, especially those who say they dislike both candidates. If you came into this debate thinking both men were unsatisfactory choices, their performance in the debate has not absolved you of that opinion.”
Mitch Landrieu, Biden campaign co-chairman
“I thought it was really an open melee. I think they’re right, the president started out slow, but then he came back,” Landrieu said on NBC News.
Landrieu acknowledged that the physical performance aspect of the debate will be uppermost in people’s minds. “But when you get down to the substance of what was said, I think it boils down to the fact that Joe Biden was right in substance. He told the truth.”
Matt Grossman, professor of political science at Michigan State University
“Clearly the biggest factor is that Biden still seems older and crankier and less coherent than he did the last time he ran, and I think that will be the big story out of the debate. I don’t think Trump has really done anything to help himself beyond his existing supporters, but I think that’s been eclipsed by people’s perceptions about Biden’s biggest weakness.”
Grossman said Biden had trouble getting his point across from the start of the debate “and he seemed very soft.” He said Biden didn’t start giving effective answers until about 20 minutes into the debate. “That’s hard to recover from.”
Grossman said debates typically have little effect on presidential races and that the effect diminishes over time. “Debates typically don’t have much of an impact on election results. But since we’re in a 50-50 election where the country is so divided, any small change can make a big difference.”
Grossman said one problem for Biden is that some of his supporters are expressing their concerns about him rather than defending his performance. “So there’s no messaging in his favor. And to the extent that it has an effect, that effect will make people’s concerns about Biden’s age even more salient.”
Tevi Troy, Bipartisan Policy Center Fellow and Presidential Historian:
Troy said overall the debate is “going to be a problem for Biden.” Biden had a number of answers where he came across as weak. “There were also some where he was stronger, but it doesn’t matter because the problematic answers will stay on Twitter and social media.”
Trump, on the other hand, was “more restrained” than in previous debates, Troy said. The microphones were turned off as per debate rules, “which actually helped him (Trump) so he wasn’t interrupting and not sounding rude.”
“It’s this double hate phenomenon where people don’t like either candidate … one guy is crazy, the other guy is too old. They were certainly legitimate in thinking one guy was too old, and in terms of crazy I think Trump has nailed it.”
Adrienne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, an organization that works to organize black voters
Shropshire said he wrote down two things in his notepad while watching the debate. “The first thing is that Trump lies,” he said. The second thing was that Biden “wasn’t as forceful as I thought he should be.”
Shropshire criticized the moderators for allowing Trump to make numerous false claims without any opposition. “Trump was essentially allowed to do what he does at his rallies, which is say whatever he wants, even if it has no relationship to the truth. And that was really unfortunate.”
Shropshire said Biden could have responded more forcefully to Trump’s false claims. “I think he tried to take the high road by talking about policy. And I think that has its place. But when we think about where our politics are right now, there really needs to be a clear presentation of the facts. And I think that got a little muddled in his policy responses.”
Shropshire said he’s not as concerned as others who have said Biden’s performance has been shaky, which could speak to his age. “People have talked about his stellar performance over the last couple of months,” he said. “I also think it doesn’t change the dynamics of the race, because they saw Trump standing next to Joe Biden, and I don’t think they saw somebody who was necessarily stronger. I think they saw the same shaky Trump that they see at every rally and in clips on social media.”
Shropshire said a strong moment for Biden was when he pointed out that Trump is a convicted felon and criticized his morality. He also said Trump’s reference to immigrants taking black jobs “has become a funny meme all over Black Twitter right now.” He said it shows how Trump is failing to connect with black voters. “That there are specific black jobs for black people that immigrants are coming to take. That’s complete nonsense.”
Waleed Shahid, senior Democratic strategist and spokesman for the National Uncommitted Movement against Biden
“You can be angry at Biden, but honestly, the party establishment is misleading people about Biden’s electability. And that is wrong conduct — political and moral wrong conduct,” Shahid said. “He completely lost the debate and if the strategy is to adopt the same tactics where they want to adopt the 2016 strategy again and make this election about fact checking, that is not going to lead to victory.”
Shahid described the debate as “a turning point” and said that “voters are not fools.”
“I think we’ll see what happens in a couple of weeks. But if they change the candidate, that candidate needs time. So I don’t know what will ultimately happen. I mean, this is unprecedented.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
