Former Republicans were ready to embrace Biden to beat Trump. And then came the debate.

Conservative voters who had made their peace with supporting Joe Biden against Donald Trump were thrown back into uncertainty after the President’s poor debate.

A couple of weeks ago, there was conversation and conviviality among a bunch of strangers brought together at a bar in Denver by their shared antipathy towards former President Donald Trump. Many were Republicans or former Republicans who were finally in a place where they could talk openly about their political views and how they wanted to stop Trump from returning to the White House in what’s set to be a tight election this fall. Becky Hofer said it was “tough to find a community” in her “very red” home state of South Dakota. She used to consider herself a Republican but said the party had transformed over the last decade. “It’s hard for me to wake up every morning and talk to my neighbors and know that they’re supporting somebody that just doesn’t match any of their values,” she said. “They’re throwing away all of their values to support a person, for what? Tax breaks that we’re really not going to get?” Hofer and hundreds of others at the event hosted by The Bulwark, a media organization created by former Republican operatives and conservative writers who oppose Trump, talked of their political journeys and how many had come to terms with crossing party lines and supporting President Joe Biden. Paul Ivancie of Denver told CNN: “My politics is former Republican. Unaffiliated now, but leaning heavily towards, I think, voting for the only alternative, which is Biden or the Democratic side.” But then came the debate.