West Michigan congresswoman expresses ‘concerns’ over Biden’s debate blunder
Washington — A congresswoman from West Michigan, one of the state’s most competitive districts, said Tuesday she expressed her “concerns” to Democratic Party officials about President Joe Biden’s performance in last week’s debate against Republican Donald Trump.
“I watched the debate. I was concerned about the president’s performance. I expressed those concerns strongly to the Democratic Party,” U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten told The Detroit News on Tuesday.
The first-term Democratic congresswoman from Grand Rapids also warned of the threat she believes Trump poses to democracy if he is re-elected in the fall.
“Eighty-one is certainly a high number,” Scholten said, referring to Biden’s age.
“93 is even higher,” she added, referring to the number of charges Trump is facing. According to the Associated Press, there are 91 in total, spread across four criminal cases.
Scholten is the latest member of Michigan’s Democratic congressional delegation to acknowledge mistakes by Biden, whose shaky debate performance and evasive answers initially sent shockwaves through the party leadership.
On Friday, Democratic U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell of Ann Arbor said after the debate that Biden had a “bad night,” while outgoing U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Lansing said the president had gotten off to “a slow start.”
While some Democrats like Stabenow thought it would be just a short-lived blip in the campaign, criticism of Biden’s age and suitability as the party’s front-runner has only intensified this week.
Scholten represents Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District, a seat long held by Republicans, making her a favored candidate in this fall’s election.
More: Leading Democrats in Michigan say they still support Biden after debate mistakes
On Tuesday, a Democratic congressman from Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives became the party’s first national lawmaker to publicly call for Biden to withdraw as presidential candidate, arguing that the president had failed to “effectively defend his many accomplishments” against Trump in the CNN debate.
Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett said Biden should “make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw.”
“My decision to make these strong reservations public is not one I made lightly, and it in no way diminishes my respect for all that President Biden has accomplished,” Doggett said in a statement Tuesday. “Because President Biden, unlike Trump, has always been committed first and foremost to our country and not to himself, I am confident he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully urge him to do so.”
Doggett’s statement came shortly after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) told MSNBC that she thought it was “a legitimate question” whether Biden’s sluggish performance was just “an episode or a condition.”
Even Democrats in Michigan are not yet in agreement about how to assess Biden’s performance in the debate in a contested election. Some have avoided the question altogether.
Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet, who is seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, expressed reservations Tuesday when asked about Biden’s performance at the debate following a campaign rally with Kildee, who has endorsed her as his successor.
“I’m not a television pundit,” McDonald Rivet told The News before entering a closed office in a United Auto Workers hall in Flint.
McDonald Rivet, a first-term state senator from Bay City, is seeking the Democratic nomination in what is expected to be one of the most hotly contested races in the country in November.
Kildee himself has made little public comment on Biden’s performance in the debate and did not answer questions from reporters on Tuesday after endorsing McDonald Rivet in her primary against Flinter Mayor Matt Collier and State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh of Saginaw.
In an interview with The News about her upcoming Democratic primary against Norton Shores businessman Salim Al Shatel, Scholten said she has heard from “so many” voters since last week’s debate and is divided about their reaction.
Although she expressed her concerns about Biden, Scholten nonetheless praised him as a president who “has fought for our reproductive capacity and will continue to do so” and “upholds the rule of law and says he will continue to do so, even after the Supreme Court’s decision.” She was referring to a 6-3 ruling released Monday that grants presidents legal immunity for actions taken in their official capacity.
Scholten compared Biden to Trump, who has boasted about his role in curtailing abortion rights at the federal level but has not said whether he will accept the outcome of this year’s election.
“When you think about it, the choice is pretty clear,” Scholten said.
If Scholten defeats Al Shatel in the Aug. 6 primary, she will face the winner of a Republican primary between East Grand Rapids attorney Paul Hudson and Grand Haven businessman Michael Markey Jr.
On Monday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer – who has been touted by experts as a possible successor to Biden if he resigns before the Democratic National Convention in August – denied claims in Politico that she told the Biden campaign that Michigan was “unwinnable” for Biden and promised to support him.
More: Governor Gretchen Whitmer: President Biden “can win Michigan”
@GrantSchwab
Washington bureau chief Melissa Burke, political editor Chad Livengood and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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