Amid nationwide discussions of whether 81-year-old Joe Biden should remain the Democratic presidential nominee, the New Jersey Globe asked several New Jersey House Democrats in the Capitol halls today for their thoughts on Biden – and most of them were emphatic that they remain behind the president.
Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), and Donald Norcross (D-Camden) all said that despite Biden’s underwhelming performance at his first debate against former President Donald Trump, they still believe Biden is the best person to defeat Trump and serve as president.
“I’m comfortable with Biden being the presidential nominee,” Watson Coleman said. “I thought he had a bad [debate] night, but I don’t think that speaks anything about his ability to run for the office and to win the office.”
When asked whether she believes Biden will be able to serve another four-year term, Watson Coleman said that if he doesn’t, Vice President Kamala Harris would be a capable successor.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen to any of us, and I think [Biden] has as good a chance as anybody to serve those four years,” she said. “But God forbid, should something happen, he has a very able vice president who can take over.”
Norcross emphasized Biden’s policy achievements, calling him “the best president of my lifetime.”
“He has done more for working families than any other president since I’ve been on this earth,” Norcross said. “I don’t think there’s anybody that is better suited to lead this country, to help working men and women, than Joe Biden.”
And Pascrell was most succinct of all: “I’m with Joe,” the congressman said.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Pallone), meanwhile, had little to say about Biden one way or the other, but he emphasized the need to defeat Trump.
“I think that all this speculation has taken away from the fact that we’ve got to go after Donald Trump,” he said. “If you look at Project 2025, it’s a disaster, it’s a dictatorship. I’m going to concentrate on that.”
Senator Cory Booker similarly focused on Trump rather than on Biden when asked by reporters earlier today for his thoughts on the race.
“The most important thing right now is to beat Donald Trump,” Booker said, per States Newsroom’s Ashley Murray. “Talking to you all is not gonna necessarily help that.”
The other Democrats in New Jersey’s congressional delegation – Senator Bob Menendez and Reps. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), and Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) – have not yet said anything publicly about Biden’s debate performance.
A small number of congressional Democrats – nine of them so far, according to NPR – have explicitly called on Biden to step down, and many others have expressed more general concerns about Biden’s ability to make his case to voters and beat Trump.
That group of skeptics includes one New Jerseyan, though he doesn’t hold congressional office anymore: former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes). Malinowski, who was recently elected as the chairman of the Hunterdon County Democrats, said last night that he believes it’s time for Biden to “pass the torch.”
“I’m still proud to have been the first NJ member of Congress to endorse Joe Biden in 2020. He’s been a uniquely successful president,” Malinowski said on Twitter. “Today, he can go down in history as the man who saved America from Trump twice – first by running four years ago, then by passing the torch.”
That opinion, though, remains in the minority for now, as evidenced by the current New Jersey delegation’s responses to the same question. And Biden himself has said he has no intentions of exiting the race, so it may be a moot point regardless – but that doesn’t mean debates over what Democrats should do will fade away anytime soon.