![President Biden speaks on the phone as he walks to board Air Force One following a fundraiser in New Jersey on Saturday, June 29, 2024.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7225x5419+1079+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcc%2Fbd%2Fc0e7e7dd42929593a996f0357795%2Fgettyimages-2159375296.jpg)
President Biden talks on the phone as he walks to board Air Force One after a fundraiser in New Jersey on Saturday.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Hide caption
Toggle captions
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden had planned to spend the days after his first 2024 debate with former President Donald Trump celebrating his victory with Democratic supporters and donors.
Instead, he spent the weekend doing damage control, trying to reassure the party that he could still get the job done after his hoarse voice and verbal gaffes in Thursday’s debate left Democrats collectively wringing their hands. His weak performance led to a chorus of calls for him to end his reelection campaign.
![Yes, Biden is actually running in November, but many voters say they are skeptical.](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/04/05/gettyimages-2092446797_sq-44f665e038c04ccf408d6a13f74e3b8d37190b5b.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“I understand the concerns following the debate. All right.” Biden told supporters gathered at New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's home Saturday night. “I didn't have a good night. But I’m going to fight harder, and I’m going to need you with me to get the job done.”
After the debate, Biden upped his energy level.
The Biden campaign sought to shake up the race with a debate, and the president spent a week preparing for it at Camp David. They wanted to contrast him with Trump on issues like abortion, democracy and the economy, and to allay concerns about Biden's age.
![President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were ordered out of a Waffle House in Marietta, Georgia, after the first presidential debate of the 2024 election on Thursday.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6525x4894+408+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F42%2Fcb%2Fc7d764b74825bfdcbf7a1fd02771%2Fgettyimages-2158953688.jpg)
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were ordered to leave the Waffle House in Marietta, Georgia, on Thursday following the first presidential debate of the 2024 election.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
Hide caption
Caption transition
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
Less than 24 hours after the debate, Biden returned to a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, this time with a stronger voice and more commanding presence.
“I know how to do this. I know how to get things done. And I know, as millions of Americans know, that when I get knocked down, I get back up,” he told the cheering crowd.
Biden has introduced a new talking point that cites his weak performance, something he repeated repeatedly at several campaign receptions Friday and Saturday in New York and New Jersey.
“I don't walk as easily as I used to. I don't talk as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to,” he said. “But I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong.”
![President Biden and British musician Elton John attend the opening ceremony of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center in New York City on Friday, June 28, 2024.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6251x4688+395+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0c%2Fa7%2F0437de164479a9a03a19b639f531%2Fgettyimages-2159078383.jpg)
President Biden and British musician Elton John attended the opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center in New York City on Friday.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
Hide caption
Toggle captions
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
The campaign is trying to shift attention back to Trump.
Since the debate, Biden and his allies have tried to convince those who watched or saw the clip online that it was just a bad night and not representative of who he is as a candidate and president.
It started in earnest when the President and First Lady stopped by an Atlanta watch party shortly after the debate. The first lady said her husband “answered every question” and praised President Trump for “lying.”
On Friday, the couple attended a political fundraiser in New York City, where they highlighted false statements Trump made during the debate. On Saturday, they visited the East Hampton home of hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein and his wife, Lizanne Rosenstein.
![First Lady Jill Biden waves to the President as she disembarks from Air Force One in Westhampton Beach, New York, Saturday, June 29, 2024.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4607x3455+204+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F37%2F66%2Fe2a4f50f4c839f365d84f3f6ae81%2Fgettyimages-2159217552.jpg)
First Lady Jill Biden waves as she walks off Air Force One in Westhampton Beach, New York, on Saturday.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
Hide caption
Caption Toggle
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
The motorcade was greeted along the road to the residential area by a small group holding placards reading: “We love you, but it’s time,” “Step down for democracy,” “Step down for us,” and “Thank you, next time.”
“You can waste time comparing debate nights, but you know what? Comparing presidencies is more meaningful,” Rosenstein told the crowd on her lawn, where former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was speaking.
The first lady dismissed the naysayers with one line: “Joe is not only the right person for the job, he’s the only person for the job.”
The campaign claims the debate did not change the race.
Michael Tyler, the campaign's communications director, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday that there had been “no” talk of Biden stepping down and that he would focus on a second debate with Trump in September.
Asked how Biden would prepare differently for the second debate, Tyler said: “Listen. I'll talk more about the second debate as we get closer. What we are focusing on now [is] …getting back into the thick of things and communicating directly with the voters who will decide the election in battleground states.”
The Biden campaign insisted that the debate did not significantly change the race, and boasted that it had raised $33 million from debate day through Sunday morning.
“In modern campaigns, no single moment determines the outcome of any contest.” Molly Murphy, a pollster for the Biden campaign, told MSNBC on Sunday. She said focus groups showed voters did not like the substance of Trump's answers during the debate.
What Top Democrats in Congress Are Saying
Leading Democratic lawmakers appeared on political talk shows Sunday and refuted the idea that Biden should be replaced as the Democratic nominee.
“Absolutely not,” Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Listen, if [Democrats] “You can't be a Democrat if you don't have a little bit of a debate,” he said, adding that “bad debates happen.”
Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, national co-chair of the Biden campaign, told ABC's “This Week” that he believes Biden is “the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who previously told reporters he thought Democrats could take back the House even with Biden holding the nomination, told MSNBC that Thursday's performance was a “frustration” but that Biden could overcome it.
But Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin sent a different message on MSNBC.
“Clearly there were major problems with Joe Biden’s debate performance. And because there is a huge reservoir of affection and love in our party for Joe Biden, this creates a difficult situation for everyone,” Raskin told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi. “But because our party is a political party and we have differences of views, there are very honest, serious and rigorous conversations taking place at all levels of our party.”
“Whatever President Biden decides,” Raskin said, Democrats should put him at the center.
“Whether he is the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he will be the keynote speaker at our convention. “He will be the one to rally us forward,” he said.