Quigley called Biden “a very proud person who has served us extraordinarily well for 50 years.” But, he added, “I just want him to appreciate … just how much (his decision) impacts not just his race, but all the other races coming in November.”

“Like a lot of people, I was pretty horrified” by Biden’s debate, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told WPRI-TV on Monday. He urged Biden and his campaign “to be candid about his condition” and explain whether “this was a real anomaly, and not just the way he is these days.”

Democrats have a 51-49 working majority in the Senate, but the seat of West Virginia’s Joe Manchin III — who was elected as a Democrat but said he would become an independent after deciding not to seek reelection — is now rated Solid Republican by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. Even if Democrats hold every other seat, a 50-50 split would mean a Republican majority if Trump wins, since the vice president breaks ties.

In the House, Democrats need to flip four seats to take back the majority they lost in 2022.

Republicans are already using questions about the president’s cognitive abilities, however, to hammer vulnerable Democrats. In Pennsylvania, Republican challenger Dave McCormick’s campaign produced a video hitting Democratic Sen. Bob Casey for defending Biden and expressing faith in the president’s ability to do the job.

“Bob Casey, you’re really not worried about Biden’s ‘bad’ debate performance?” McCormick said Monday on X. “The Pennsylvanians I’ve heard from sure are. Our troops deserve a commander-in-chief with the strength and acuity to lead in a crisis.”

After years of having to answer — or ignore — questions about Trump’s volatile behavior and frequent lies, the GOP is trying to put Democrats, especially in battleground districts, on the defensive.

Within a day of the debate, GOP operatives put that strategy into action, asserting that Democrats knew that Biden was not able to fulfill his constitutional obligations but sought to tamp down those concerns for political reasons.

Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday called on the members of Biden’s Cabinet to decide whether it is time to use their power under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to remove him from power.

The National Republican Congressional Committee also released a video containing statements by Democrats defending the president.

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