Biden’s Debate Performance Further Imperils Already Vulnerable Senate Dems

President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 28, 2024
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
Nick Gilbertson

The effects of President Joe Biden’s extremely shaky debate performance are reverberating through down-ballot races, further imperiling the election odds of already vulnerable Democrats.

Biden’s showing Thursday immediately sparked a five-alarm fire in the Democrat party, with pundits and commentators immediately musing about potentially replacing Biden as the presumptive Democrat nominee.

WATCH: “Look… If… We Finally Beat Medicare”: Trump Does a Double Take as Biden Glitches on Stage:

Courtesy of CNN Presidential Debate

However, the consequences for Democrats reach far beyond Biden, who will reportedly not step aside.

PunchBowl News founder Jake Sherman emphasized that Biden has created “an incredibly serious problem” for down-ballot Democrats by failing to “clear the lowest bar” of expectations Thursday night.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations in the last 7 hours with congressional democrats. Their sense isn’t that this was a bad debate. It is much worse than that,” he wrote.

“In their view, Biden didn’t even clear the lowest bar. They may agree with him on policy. But Biden wasn’t even able to articulate what his policies are. For Democrats running down ballot, this is an incredibly serious problem,” he emphasized.

Republican candidates in highly competitive Senate races wasted no time in tying their opponents to the president after the feeble exhibition he put forth.

Ohio GOP Senate nominee Bernie Moreno, for example, closely linked his opponent, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), to Biden in a post on X.

“Think about the Joe Biden you saw tonight — That’s who Sherrod Brown supports for President and votes with 99% of the time,” Moreno wrote.

In fact, Moreno released an ad before the debate called “In Tandem” that linked the pair. The video showed two men resembling Biden and Brown driving erratically through a Washington, DC, park on a tandem bike before crashing out of frame.

Brown is one of the most vulnerable senators up for reelection this cycle, and his seat represents a key part of the GOP’s quest for a strong Senate majority, as does Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) seat.

Tester, like Brown, faced an uphill battle before Thursday night as a Democrat incumbent in a red state with Trump atop the ticket. But after Biden’s performance, Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy immediately pointed out that Tester had vouched for Biden’s fitness.

“After Joe Biden’s abysmal debate performance tonight, remember this, Montana — @JonTester LOVES @JoeBiden,” Sheehy wrote. “Tester thinks Biden is ‘100% with it’ and votes with Biden 95% of the time!!”

The connections were not confined to what are arguably races for the two most flippable seats for Republicans this cycle outside of West Virginia. GOP candidates in just about every Senate race Republicans have legitimate opportunities to win linked their opponents to Biden in the aftermath of the showing.

Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Dave McCormick accused Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) of lying by defending Biden’s fitness for the presidency.

“Bob Casey has said over and over that his ‘close friend’ Joe Biden, with whom he votes 98% of the time, is fit to be president,” McCormick said. “What we all saw last night proves Casey is lying.”

In Arizona, Republican Kari Lake accused her opponent in the state’s Senate race, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), of going into “hiding” after the debate.

“Did you notice @RubenGallego went into radio silence for that debate?” she wrote. “He knows it was an embarrassment to his party & the man he’s supported 100% of the time.”

“While Ruben goes into hiding, hoping to escape the albatross that is Joe Biden, I will continue to proudly support Trump’s America First agenda that will benefit every Arizonan,” she added.

Retired Army Capt. Hung Cao, who is the Republican nominee against Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) in Virginia, emphasized that Kaine has touted he will be a “ticketmate” of Biden’s and that he would promote the administration’s record throughout the race.

“You sure are a ticketmate of Joe Biden, buddy. And we’re not going to let anybody forget it,” Cao added.

Nevada’s Republican Senate nominee, Sam Brown, continued the trend, taking aim at his rival, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV).

“Tonight, Nevadans saw with their own eyes what a Joe Biden/Jacky Rosen ticket will look like in November, and it is disastrous,” he wrote in a post on X. “For nearly 4 years, Jacky Rosen has enabled Joe Biden and voted with him 98% of the time.”

“In November, Nevadans will proudly play a critical role in electing President Trump; helping Republicans retake the Senate majority; and retiring Joe Biden and Jacky Rosen,” added the retired Army captain.

Republican candidates Eric Hovde in Wisconsin and Mike Rogers in Michigan branded their opponents as being closely aligned to Biden as well.

Hovde shared a video of Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) saying Biden’s administration is “one of the most successful administrations in generations” legislatively speaking.

“That was one of the least successful debates for one of the least successful presidents in American history. Wisconsinites deserve better,” he wrote in the post’s caption.

Rogers wrote that Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who he is squaring off with in the race for outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) seat, “votes with Joe Biden 100% of the time but she hasn’t said a word about tonight’s debate.”

“Did she sign another NDA to stay silent?” he added.

Democrats and the independents who caucus with them currently hold a one-seat majority in the Senate at 51-49. Hypothetically, if Trump were to win back the White House, Republicans would need a net pick-up of just one seat to take a simple majority.

Conversely, the best pick-up opportunities for Democrats are truly long shots in red Florida and Texas against strong incumbents in Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).

In other words, Republicans are in a prime position to take a substantial multiple-seat majority. If the GOP won every one of the races mentioned above, along with West Virginia, where a flip of outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin’s (I-WV) seat is likely, and Cruz and Scott hang on, Republicans would take a 58-42 seat majority.

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