LAS VEGAS (AP) 鈥 Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday dismissed the 鈥減unditry鈥 criticizing President Joe Biden's halting and uneven debate performance, saying at a rally in Las Vegas that 鈥渢his race will not be decided by one night in June.鈥
Speaking to an energetic crowd, Harris joined Biden鈥檚 push to quell Democratic anxiety by going on the attack against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. She framed the election as a binary choice 鈥渂etween someone who lies and someone who leads.鈥
鈥淚n a real leader, character matters more than style,鈥 Harris said. 鈥淎nd Donald Trump simply does not have the character to be president of the United States.鈥
As she acknowledged Biden鈥檚 , Harris emphasized the substance of Trump鈥檚 remarks during the 90-minute debate, including his refusal to condemn the rioters who as well as his unwillingness to emphatically commit to accepting the results of this November鈥檚 election.
鈥淟ast night clarified the stakes of this election," Harris said.
Her event in Las Vegas and her television interviews after Biden's debate were apparent efforts to calm Democratic panic. Hours earlier in Raleigh, North Carolina, Biden appeared to acknowledge the criticism of his performance, saying 鈥滻 don鈥檛 debate as well as I used to.鈥
Harris spoke for 11 minutes at a Las Vegas community center at an event geared toward Latino voters, a crucial voting bloc in the battleground state of Nevada.
A Biden campaign staffer followed a New York Times reporter as he interviewed voters and shut down interviews when they turned negative, the newspaper reported. Nobody from the campaign followed or interfered with an Associated Press reporter speaking to voters.
Harris said the contrast between Biden and Trump ultimately has to be on Biden鈥檚 performance in office, rather than in one debate.
鈥淚 see Joe Biden when the cameras are on and when the cameras are off,鈥 Harris said. 鈥淚 in the Oval Office negotiating bipartisan deals. I see him in the Situation Room keeping our country safe. On the world stage, meeting with world leaders who often ask for his advice.鈥
Polls from and conducted soon after the debate found that most debate-watchers thought Trump outperformed Biden. But the two men鈥檚 favorability ratings remained largely unchanged, just as they did in the aftermath of Trump鈥檚 conviction.
Harris gave interviews Thursday night on CNN and MSNBC amid immediate Democratic panic over Biden鈥檚 performance, which fueled longstanding questions about whether the 81-year-old president should step aside.
鈥淚t was a slow start. That鈥檚 obvious to everyone. I鈥檓 not going to debate that point," Harris said in an interview on CNN following the debate. 鈥淚'm talking about the choice for November. I鈥檓 talking about one of the most important elections in our collective lifetime.鈥
Before Harris arrived in Las Vegas, a group of women waiting to get inside agreed that Biden鈥檚 debate performance was lacking but believed he could recover.
鈥淲e had faux pas on either side, but Biden-Harris is clearly the way to go,鈥 Tina Allen-Major, 50, a Las Vegas electrician said as a Mariachi band played nearby. 鈥淲e have to continue to protect our democracy, we have to work for what鈥檚 best for our future.鈥
Biden wasn鈥檛 the first incumbent president to stumble in their first debate, and a 鈥渟low start鈥 is no reason to cast him aside, said Sharon Tillis, 71, of Henderson, Nevada, a data collector for government policymakers.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e with someone, you stand with them solidly,鈥 Tillis said.
Former President Barack Obama and Trump both received low marks for their first debates in 2012 and 2020, when they were running as incumbents. Neither candidate's performance led to the type of panic that Biden鈥檚 performance triggered among some Democrats.
Brandon Colbert, a 42-year-old Teamsters convention worker in Las Vegas, said Biden's performance was 鈥渃oncerning鈥 but he believes Biden can do the job and doesn't think it's realistic to talk about replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee.
鈥淲ho鈥檚 going to step in at this point?鈥 Colbert said. 鈥淚 mean, the train is running. We got who we got. This is what we鈥檙e going with. I still pick him over Trump.鈥
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim reported from Washington.
