David Elberfeld felt steadfast in his convictions against former President Donald Trump and solemn about President Joe Biden stepping aside.

To watch Biden, 81, chase the presidency throughout his lifetime – running several times before being the oldest president elected in 2020 at 78– only to suspend his re-election campaign over the weekend after staunch critiques of his age, Elberfeld, 79, was emotional.

“I hate to see it happen for the reason it happened,” he said. “On the other hand, I feel mixed feelings and a sense of relief.”

To some New Hampshire seniors, Biden’s lapses in memory, pauses in speech and fragility are just the product of getting old. Still, that doesn’t take away the pain of watching the president fail before their eyes, nor the respect they have for his performance.

Civic engagement is a staple of the “Live Free or Die” state. New Hampshire voters take pride in their bitter cold January primary and during the last presidential election seniors in the Granite State led the nation in turnout, with 84 percent of people over the age of 65 voting, according to U.S. Census data.

At the Concord City Wide Community Center, weekly games of cribbage and Scrabble were interrupted by political conversation in the wake of Biden’s decision.

Elberfeld does not hesitate to say he’s a “never Trumper.” He’s looking to see if Vice President Kamala Harris can launch a stronger campaign to win in the fall.

While watching the presidential debate last month – where Biden’s performance was dominated by lapses of speech and nonsensical thoughts – Elberfeld was “disturbed.”

Pam McClintok, 73, just turned off the TV.

“It took my breath away. I knew he was failing but that hurt so bad,” she said. “Then when he got COVID, I said this would be the perfect time to bow out.”

The political turmoil of recent months is nothing McClintock’s generation has not seen before, she said. 

“We grew up in the pandemonium of the 60s,” she said. “I think that we can come through this just like we did, just like we’ve done before, but I think it was time and my heart is broken.”

Biden did not fare well in the 2020 New Hampshire primary, finishing fifth with 8% of the vote. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won, with nearly 26 percent of the vote. Biden’s primary victory this year, came after his name was not even on the ballot – with party leaders running a write-in campaign after he declared he would not participate in the first in the nation primary as it did not follow the Democratic National Convention schedule.

McClintock didn’t write-in for Biden in January’s primary – she chose “that gentleman from the Midwest,” and laughed that despite liking his record then, she couldn’t remember his name. (It was Dean Phillips.)

But that doesn’t discount the success of Biden’s presidency, she said, especially considering how it started.

“He’s such a great, he’s been such a great president,” she said. “When you think about the world that he got into when he started four years ago, it was pretty tough with COVID and people weren’t back to work. So I think he’s done a great job for the country and I hate to see him do this.”

Watching Biden’s decline only antagonized Lynda Levy. His condition was obvious four years ago, she said, and those close to him “lied about it” to put him into power.

“It makes me wonder what else they are lying about,” she said. “If they are going to put someone into office who has obvious signs of dementia, what else are they going to do to hold onto power?”

Biden’s successor means little to Levy, 71, though. To her, the next candidate will carry on with the same tired messaging from the Democratic party.

Instead, she’d love to see Trump re-elected. Under his presidency she felt that fewer wars abroad consumed national headlines and inflation and immigration were more manageable.

“You may have someone with a big mouth that said things that he shouldn’t,” she said. “But we didn’t have these knee-jerk problems that are destroying the country.”

Biden’s exit now means Trump is the oldest presidential nominee at 78. Levy is not concerned with his age, though.

“He’s very vigorous,” she said. “It wasn’t age that concerned me with Biden, it was his mental acuity. There are people that are in their 90s that I would have for president. It’s not age.”

After the debate, as age took center stage as the critique against Biden, Joanne Arsenault, took offense.

Earlier this month she celebrated her 87th birthday, with four days of celebrations from her kids and siblings.

“That bothered me because I’m of an age and I’m finding I’m forgetting things,” she said. “I think it’s just a natural progression for older people to lose some physical and mental acuity.”

Trump’s critique of Biden has continued since his announcement, with a post Monday on Truth Social saying, “It’s a new day and Joe Biden doesn’t remember quitting the race yesterday!”

To Arsenault, this response continues to be cruel to Biden.

With a new name atop the ticket now, others hope that the focus can shift back to Trump’s consistent falsehoods. After the debate, Cindy Brown, 70, wrote to New Hampshire’s congressional delegation with concerns that no one called out the former president’s performance.

Instead, Biden’s downfall gave Trump an unchecked, center stage.

“A lot of the focus from the debate was on Biden and they didn’t put much on Trump, who didn’t even answer any of the things and just lied his way through it,” she said.

And as Democrats look to build a new ticket, the party needs to consider who can challenge Ohio Senator JD Vance, who Trump recently announced as his vice president.

McClintock laughed that she once read Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy” in a book club. To Kathy Retting, 75, the story had little to do with politics at the time, but was a staunch reminder of the impacts of the opioid epidemic across the country.

In listening to potential vice presidential contenders, Brown liked the sound of the governor from Pennsylvania, although she couldn’t remember his name. (It was Josh Shapiro). Rettig wondered if Democrats would opt for someone from the Midwest to counter Vance.

With a new charged focus on the election, though, McClintock hoped Granite Staters would turn their attention back home. New Hampshire will also elect a new governor this fall, for the first time since 2016.

“We have a double whammy. We are so focused on this presidential race, we have to vote for governor. That’s huge,” she said. “They are so low key, they are so not speaking… Jesus Christ, who are these people running for governor? I mean the local stuff is stuff that we really need to pay attention to.”

Every Monday McClintock, Brown and Rettig meet at the community center for cribbage. Rarely, do they talk politics, they joked.

“We talk about the weather,” they laughed. “We want to be friends at the end of the day.”

 

Michaela Towfighi can be reached at mtowfighi@cmonitor.com.