In an effort to smooth over the chaos following the first presidential debate, two Biden campaign officials held a call with a group of Nikki Haley supporters. The virtual meeting did not go well, according to two people on the call who spoke with Axios.
The Wednesday night call is yet another indication of the political damage done by President Joe Biden's shaky and halting debate performance on June 27. His campaign has been attempting to resuscitate his damaged candidacy ever since.
According to Axios, the Biden camp's head of GOP outreach, Austin Weatherford, and spokesperson Kevin Munoz held a call with a group of 14 Haley allies from a number of different states, some of whom served on state leadership teams.
The Biden officials reportedly acknowledged that their candidate had a bad night and said they had their work cut out for them to convince voters that he is fit for office. The Haley Voters Working Group organized the call, and Axios reported that members were not convinced.
"[I] saw Jan. 6, so I can't vote for Trump," one voter who had been on a Haley state leadership team said. "But I also saw June 27, and I'm not sure I can vote for Biden."
Another told Weatherford and Munoz that Biden has not given enough of a positive reason to vote for him, making it unlikely the voter will cast a vote for president.
Convinced that Vice President Kamala Harris would ultimately end up as president, one Arizona woman urged the Biden campaign to have her speak about more issues than just abortion.
According to another source on the call who spoke with Axios, the officials responded to the woman, saying they understand that Haley voters want to hear where the campaign stands on foreign policy and immigration — not just abortion.
"While participants raised concerns about Biden's debate performance, our working group continues to be issues and policy-focused, and last night gave participants the chance to touch on some of the real issues that will determine how they vote this fall," said Emily Matthews, who heads the working group.
"While the news cycle is still (understandably) caught up with post-debate coverage, our group found it respectable that the Biden campaign made time to come to the table and listen," she added.
The conversation with Haley supporters was the Biden campaign's first attempt at outreach to the failed Republican candidate's voters and came one day after Haley released her delegates to former President Donald Trump.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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