RICHMOND, Va. — CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said Virginia now appears “to be one of the states that is in play in the wake of President Joe Biden's (D) debate debacle,” despite former President Donald Trump (R) still being deeply unpopular in the state.
Biden beat Trump by ten points in 2020, and a majority of Virginians have voted for a Democrat for president in the last four presidential elections.
The last time a majority of Virginians selected a Republican for President was back in 2004.
But Holsworth said that based on Biden’s poor performance at the debate, which he described as “disastrous and catastrophic, he thinks “that Virginia Democrats must be considerably more anxious today about their chances of holding on to their seats in the 7th and 10th Congressional districts than they were prior to the debate” due to Biden being at the top of the ticket.
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CBS 6 reached out to Virginia’s two Democratic Senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, on Friday to see if they still supported Biden as their nominee.
A spokeswoman for Warner never got back to us, but late Fridaythe Washington Post reported “Warner is seeking to assemble a group of Senators to ask Biden to exit the race.”
We’ve reached out to his office for comment.
“This is very bad news for Biden as it suggests that a prominent Democrat in a must-win state does not think that Biden can successfully head the ticket," Holsworth said. "It’s likely to be interpreted as the dam beginning to break.”
Still, other Democrats in Virginia are continuing to support the President as the party’s nominee, including Kaine, who is running for re-election.
And Holsworth said “Trump is still very unpopular here” in Virginia.
When asked Friday about Biden continuing to be the Democrat’s nominee for President, Susan Swecker, who is the Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said:
“Joe Biden has delivered for Virginia time and time again. Everybody has a rough night now and then, but I’ll tell you what I saw on the debate stage -- Donald Trump is the same liar that he was in 2020 when he ran for reelection and he’s the same liar that he was in 2016 when he ran the first time. Every time he opened his mouth, I think he told a lie. He is not only the worst president we have ever had, I honestly think he is the worst human being who has ever run for public office.”
And, state Senator Lamont Bagby (D), Chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, said “As a statewide leader whose focus is on the good of the Commonwealth and nine million Virginians, my decision to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is based on our shared policy positions that will continue to grow our economy and keep unemployment low. The choice is between two visions. A second Trump presidency would set us back a generation.”
CBS 6 asked former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder, who is 93 years old, for his perspective on concerns after the debate related to Biden’s age.
Wilder referred us to an interview he did with John Reid at WRVA on Tuesday where he said “there was a moment of pity that I had, not pity, but sadness because I could see the President struggling” during the debate.
In that interview with WRVA, Wilder went on to say that even though the debate did “not go well” for Biden, the President will go on to be the nominee for the Democrats unless he decides, himself, to “stop and get out and that is not going to happen in my judgment.”
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