Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) predicted that President Joe Biden is “going to lose to Trump” after his performance at the presidential debate on Thursday.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who defeated Republican candidate Joe Kent in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District race in November 2022, told KATU News in an interview that “the damage has been done” by the presidential debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“About 50 million Americans tuned in and watched that debate,” Gluesenkamp Perez told the outlet. “I was one of them for about five very painful minutes. We all saw what we saw, you can’t undo that, and the truth I think, is that Biden is going to lose to Trump. I know that’s difficult, but I think the damage has been done by that debate.”
During the presidential debate, Biden appeared to look disoriented and he froze. He also had trouble getting through his prepared closing statement, and he spoke with a hoarse voice.
Biden’s poor debate performance left several members of the media, Democrat officials, donors, and voters questioning if he would be able to serve another term as president and floating the idea of replacing him with another candidate.
Democrats such as former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) have focused on the positive and continued to support Biden after his performance.
On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) became the first Democrat in office to call for Biden to withdraw from the presidential election, noting that Biden “has continued to run substantially behind Democratic senators in key states and in most polls has trailed Donald Trump.”
“A core tenet of democracy is that you accept the results of an election and the reality is that primary voting has already happened to a degree that Biden is the nominee,” Gluesenkamp Perez told the outlet.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that 72 percent of registered voters feel that Biden does not have the “mental” or “cognitive health” to serve as president, while 27 percent of registered voters expressed that Biden does have the mental and cognitive health to serve as president.
