Biden's debate performance pushes Democrats to consider the once-unthinkable: Casting him aside

But even before the debate, the Biden and Trump campaigns’ travel schedules indicated vulnerability for the incumbent. Harris was scheduled to address Latino voters in Nevada on Friday, while Trump was headed to Virginia. Both states last voted for a Republican to win the White House in 2004, indicating that Trump’s campaign is trying to grow his electoral map while Harris is trying to shore up a Democratic state where the presumptive GOP nominee has been leading in the polls for months.

In the aftermath of the face-off, the Biden campaign appeared to be putting out a concerted message acknowledging that the president’s performance was subpar, while also pointing to the many falsehoods Trump uttered during the debate.

“Look, he had a bad night,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat and Biden campaign surrogate, said on Fox News. “It’s incumbent upon us to go out and make the case about how the country is moving in the right direction versus what you saw from the former president, which is a list of grievances.”

Advisors who spoke anonymously tried to downplay the importance of the face-off with Trump, which they said he won on substance, by noting that debates seldom move polls. And some Democrats were publicly urging their fellow party members to stay the course.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York offered a terse “no” when asked by reporters whether Biden should drop out.

“Republicans are like Tammy Wynette, they stand by their man,” said Elizabeth Ashford, a longtime California political consultant whose clients have included Harris. “And if Dems want to win in November, we must do the same.”

Christine Pelosi, daughter of former House Speaker and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and a longtime delegate to the Democratic National Convention, doubted Biden would withdraw but said he must act quickly to change the perception he created in the debate.

“Needs a course correct and a timely long unscripted interview to show that this was a terrible debate — as Obama and Reagan both had with their first re-elect debates — and not an ongoing condition,” she said in a text message.