Bob Casey is cautiously backing Joe Biden while campaigning for his own high-stakes reelection

SCRANTON — Within hours of President Joe Biden’s bad debate performance, Pennsylvania Democrats were rushing to defend him.

Gov. Josh Shapiro did a round of TV news interviews. Sen. John Fetterman posted on social media about his own experience with a bad debate and tried to tamp down Democratic panic.

But U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, arguably Biden’s closest ally in the state, and who is now facing the most competitive reelection fight of his career, stayed silent, something his GOP challenger Dave McCormick seized on.

On Monday, at a campaign stop at a brewery in Scranton, Casey reluctantly responded to questions about the president’s performance and said he thinks Biden should remain the nominee.

“I think people know what’s at stake in this race. It’s true at a national level,” Casey said. “It’s true in my race … he had a bad night, there’s just no question about it but I think those choices are what people are going to be focused on.”

Asked about internal party discussions over whether to urge Biden to decline the nomination, Casey told reporters at the event, “I’m not aware that there are those conversations going on.” He kept his answers about Biden short and was openly relieved when a question came up specific to his race.

In the wake of Biden’s rough debate performance, vulnerable Democratic incumbents are navigating how to win their races without aligning too closely with an unpopular president whose policies they are largely running on.

But Casey is different from other swing state incumbents in that he and the president have been friends and allies for decades, further complicating the dynamics of their 2024 campaigns, which share some staffers.

“This race has been framed as democracy on the line, so I think friendships and allegiances and longtime relationships come second to defending democracy,” Philadelphia political consultant Mustafa Rashed said. “Senator Casey’s got his own race to run and politics is a calculating business.”

Both sons of Scranton, Biden and Casey grew up on the same street in the same Green Ridge neighborhood, and their families share friends. When Casey’s mother, Ellen, died last year, Biden had a private viewing to say goodbye. In his State of the Union address in February, Biden’s most-watched appearance until the debate last week, the president shouted out only one senator by name and it was “Bobby Casey.”

McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, has tried to capitalize on Biden’s poor debate performance, like other down-ballot Republicans. He already has a digital ad out featuring clips of Casey defending Biden’s fitness for office and accusing Casey of lying in his defense of the president. McCormick has also suggested that Biden’s cabinet should consider forcing him out of office using the 25th Amendment, which addresses a president’s inability to perform the duties of the office.

Asked on Monday whether he still believes Biden has the ability to run a tough campaign and serve another four years, Casey said “yes and yes.” Pressed to elaborate he said, “I’ve been at this a while and I know his work.”

Casey has run ahead of Biden in most polling but his race remains close. If Biden’s support in Pennsylvania drops, that means more ticket splitters Casey would need to convince to back him.

An Emerson College poll in June found Casey up 6 points against McCormick, outside the poll’s margin of error. Casey outperformed Biden in that survey by 2 points.

Still, McCormick’s team sees room to define Casey and argues that some of the split-ticket support is soft, given that about a quarter of Pennsylvania’s likely voters said in a recent survey that they don’t know enough to have an opinion of Casey, the state’s longest-serving Democratic senator in history and the son of a former Pennsylvania governor.

“I don’t really know a lot about Bob Casey, but I haven’t heard anything bad about Bob Casey,” said Charles Kestener, 41, a registered independent from Allentown who was polled in an Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College survey in May, and who plans to vote for Casey but not Biden.

The extent of the down-ballot damage from Biden’s bad debate performance will remain unclear at least until a new round of major polls comes out. After an all-out panic from Democrats on Friday, a strong appearance Biden gave in Raleigh seemed to tamp down some concerns.

Still, many Democrats fear that if Biden remains the candidate and turnout is low, that could hinder other Democrats’ chances in narrowly divided states.

At Voodoo Brewing in Scranton on Monday, Casey, who is typically mild-mannered, was uncharacteristically animated in describing his campaign fight ahead. In the last few months, the ad wars started in earnest with the Senate Leadership Fund committing $24 million to help McCormick get elected in addition to spending from a billionaire-backed super PAC. Casey lambasted the super PAC and then mentioned the three debates he and McCormick have agreed to ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

“They’re continuing to attack me … those billionaires. I’m gonna beat ‘em. I’m gonna beat ‘em all,” Casey said, his voice rising to a yell.

“It’s gonna be a rough, tough debate and at the end of this race, I’m gonna win this race … and the president’s gonna win his race.”