U.S. Sen. Bob Casey sounded unworried Monday about President Joe Biden’s shaky debate performance last week.
At a campaign stop at Voodoo Brewing Co. in Scranton, Casey said Biden had a “bad night.” He said he’s unaware of talks to remove Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee. Casey also said he’s not worried about Biden dragging down his Senate reelection campaign.
Casey faces in Republican Dave McCormick in one of the most hotly contested and expensive Senate races in the country.
“Look, I think people know what's at stake in this race. It's true at the national level, it's true in my race,” he said. “It's as clear a choice as you can imagine.”
The choice is between a candidate, Biden, “who supports voting rights and democracy or a candidate (Trump) who supports something else insurrectionists or failure to advance on voting right.”
“We're going to have a candidate in our race who's going to support women's rights, or if the other guy wins, it's support for the bans that are taking place on abortion, and the likelihood of a national abortion ban,” he said.
Casey said the contrast between the candidates on workers’ rights is stark, too.
“We're either going to have a senator and a national administration that supports workers and the right to organize and lift up workers or a candidate who supports big corporations and billionaires,” he said.
Asked why he’s confident Biden can run a strong race and serve a second term, Casey said he knows Biden’s record.
“And I also know that the American people and the people of Pennsylvania are going to focus on these races in the way that I just outlined,” he said.
Casey’s view of Biden’s debate performance contrasted sharply with McCormick’s.
“This is just hard to watch as an American. I don’t know how anyone can watch this and continue to think Joe Biden is fit for office,” McCormick posted on X on Thursday.
Casey also criticized a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that offers President Donald Trump limited immunity from his Jan. 6 riot charges.
Trump is charged with conspiring to block Biden’s confirmation by Congress, but the court said he might have immunity from prosecution if he acted in his official capacity as president.
“No one should be allowed to act with impunity, whether in their personal capacity or official capacity to the detriment of the country,” Casey said. “And it's a sad day when an elected public official is the beneficiary of a ruling like that by a hard-right court that seems that at every turn, not just a bit moving further right, but also to be boosting him. It was a bad day for the country.”
