Vermont Sen. Peter Welch (D) warned Wednesday that President Biden could bring other Democrats down with him if he loses badly in November, and said he no longer knows whether Biden would be a stronger candidate than Vice President Harris .
“So if we perform really poorly at the presidential level, that will create a severe hangover,” he said in an interview with CNN.
“The most important thing is to have Trump out of office, a Democrat in power. I think doing this is the best help we can give our Senate candidates, who are doing very well but face a difficult challenge,” he said.
Asked by CNN host Brianna Keilar whether Biden should continue his bid for a second term, Welch said it was up to Biden to decide.
“That’s the question,” he said. “He’s struggling with it. He’s reading the research.
“I am confident that at the end of the day the president will make his decision based on what is best for the country,” he added.
Welch said that if Biden decides to end his campaign, an open competition will be necessary at the Democratic National Convention in August to choose the party’s nominee.
“If it was an open dispute – if the president made that decision – then it would have to be open,” he said. “We have a tremendous bench, starting with the vice president. We also have party unity. Everyone who would run is running in continuation of Biden’s achievements.
“The big question for all of us is who is the best candidate to win the presidency and defeat Trump? And I don’t know the answer to that, but I know we have a lot of really good candidates, including the vice president,” he said.
This week, Biden is trying to reassure top Democrats that he is up to the task of defeating former President Trump in November. Democratic anxiety has been growing steadily since a disastrous debate last week and came into public view on Tuesday.
Welch criticized Biden’s campaign earlier in the week for dismissing concerns from Democrats who fear Biden won’t be able to defeat Trump after his disastrous “bedwetting” debate performance.
“I really criticize the campaign for the dismissive attitude towards people who raise issues for discussion. This is just facing the reality we live in,” Welch told Semafor in an interview on Monday.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
