Raleigh, North Carolina Just hours after a disastrous debate performance prompted calls for him to drop out of the race, President Joe Biden told an audience in Raleigh that he was ready to rise to the challenge of leading the country for the next four years.
“I would not run again if I didn't believe with every fiber of my being that I could do this job,” Biden, 81, told the crowd at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.
Biden, a Democrat who defeated Trump in 2020, delivered a stronger performance on Friday, spending much of his 20-minute speech attacking the 78-year-old Trump as a liar and even worse.
“He really set a new record for the number of lies told in one debate,” Biden said of Trump, who is leading in polls in most battleground and swing states, including North Carolina.
Fact checkers found that Trump made numerous false statements during the debate, and also identified false statements made by Biden on Thursday.
Biden called Republican front-runner Trump a “one-man crime wave” and accused the Republican, who has been convicted of nearly 30 felony counts in New York state and faces other criminal trials, of having “no respect for women or the law.”
The candidates traded harsh words about their opponents' integrity Thursday night.
“I've never seen anyone like this guy,” Trump said of Biden during the debate. “Everything he does is a lie. It's misinformation and disinformation.”
At a rally on Friday, Biden said Trump lied about his record on the economy, the pandemic, veterans, crime and Jan. 6. In a statement to WRAL, the Trump campaign said Biden lied about military deaths under his administration, border security and the impact of inflation.
“The list goes on,” said Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign official. “Joe Biden should look in the mirror if he wants to talk about lies.”
Biden only briefly mentioned his performance in Friday's debate, downplaying his age, during which his answers occasionally stuttered and jumbled.
“I don't walk as easily as I used to,” Biden said, “I don't talk as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to. But I know what I know: I know how to tell the truth.”
Even Biden supporters at Friday's rally acknowledged they had concerns about his performance in the debate but, like Biden, portrayed it as a distinction from Trump.
“Trump was awful, the media didn't fact-check anything he said, and Biden just looked like an old man,” said Preston Lin, 76, a Biden supporter from Durham who attended Friday's rally.
“And I'm a senior citizen.”
Republicans pointed to Biden's debate performance as evidence that he is not up to the task of running the country again.
“Last night made clear what we already knew: Joe Biden is not fit to be president,” North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Jason Simmons wrote on social media. “These are not cheap fakes or doctored footage. The American people are seeing it for themselves.”
But voters were concerned about the mental capacity of both candidates, with 72% saying they were concerned about Biden and 52% saying they were concerned about Trump, with responses split largely but not completely along party lines.
Among Republicans, 93% said they were concerned about Biden's mental competency, while only 18% said the same about Trump. Among Democrats, 83% said they were concerned about Trump's mental competency, while 46% said the same about Biden.
“It's not about his age, it's about his ability,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Virginia on Friday.
The Importance of NC
Biden's visit is the latest sign of how important North Carolina is to his reelection campaign as he trails in the polls.
“If Joe Biden wins North Carolina, he will once again be president of the United States,” Gov. Roy Cooper told the crowd.
Biden has indicated that if he is re-elected, he would select Cooper for a Cabinet post or another position in his administration. Cooper is term limited and is not running for office.
Cooper won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020, but Trump won the state for president. A Biden win would defy history for North Carolina.
No Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since Biden ran in 2008. Obama is the only Democrat to win the state in 11 elections since the 1976 election.
Trump, the Republican front-runner, won North Carolina in the 2016 presidential election and lost his reelection bid to Biden in 2020. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the state by more than 173,000 votes. In 2020, Trump's margin of victory was less than 75,000 votes. The 1.3% margin was the narrowest of any state Trump won in 2020.
“Biden's weak performance in last night's debate gives him no chance of winning North Carolina, and a caucus will not repair the damage that was done,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, a North Carolina native and former state party chairman.
The Biden campaign has been trying to close that gap in recent months, opening 18 field offices in the state, hiring 80 staffers and planning to triple that number by the end of July, as well as spending heavily on television and local radio ads, particularly on radio station spots targeted at Black voters.
The state and its 16 electoral votes would give Democrats another path to the 270 electoral votes needed to hold the White House, especially as polls show they are struggling in Sun Belt states such as Georgia, Arizona and Nevada that Biden won in 2020.
“The Biden campaign's focus on North Carolina reflects the fact that Georgia and Arizona have become irrelevant for Democrats,” said Republican strategist Jonathan Felts.
Visit to Raleigh
Biden, accompanied by first lady Jill Biden, arrived in Raleigh shortly before 2 a.m. after the debate in Atlanta. Supporters on the runway chanted “four more years!” as Biden shook hands with them and posed for photos.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Josh Stein spoke at the rally on Friday, focusing on his campaign against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and staying away from national politics. After performances by Grammy-nominated artist Fat Joe and rapper E-40, Governor Cooper introduced the Bidens and Raleigh educator Eric Fitts.
“I'm proud that Joe Biden is our president,” Fitts said. “Whether he's fighting for our rights on the debate stage, defending our democracy on the world stage, or eating a burger with me at home in Raleigh, Joe Biden is a good and honorable man who fights for our families every day.”
Rally attendees expressed similar sentiments.
“Biden supports a lot of the things I stand for,” said Adrienne Payne, a college student from Winston-Salem who attended Friday's rally. “He has my interests at heart and understands my values.”
Lin, a 76-year-old Biden supporter, said he thinks it's too late in the process for Democrats to replace Biden, a notion that emerged after Thursday's debate.
“I think he's a smart guy,” Lynn said. “I think his term as president has been great. I think we started doing things we should have done 40 years ago. And I think he's got really good people around him. And it's not just the president.”
Trump's dominance
The Biden campaign is hoping to energize key Democratic constituencies such as younger, Black and other minority voters. Abortion rights and Trump's character and record are key issues that Biden highlighted on Friday.
Felts said the cost of living issue has plagued Democrats nationwide and in North Carolina, especially with rural voters and retirees who have moved to the state for reasons including the lower cost of living.
“They vote quietly — and they vote Republican,” said Felts, who served as campaign manager for Republican Ted Budd's successful 2022 Senate campaign.