Former Vice President Joe Biden closed his Democratic presidential debate performance Wednesday night by telling viewers to “go to Joe 30330,” apparently mixing up a phone number for supporters to text with a website not affiliated with his campaign.
“If you agree with me, go to Joe 30330 and help me in this fight. Thank you very much,” Biden said.
Viewers swiftly took to social media to express their confusion. Biden later tweeted a similar call to action, this time with an instruction to text.
Biden said in the tweet, “If you liked what you heard tonight, text JOE to 30330 and let’s get to work.” The text returns a fundraising pitch from his campaign.
Asked by reporters Thursday if there was anything he would have done differently in the debate, Biden cited the misspoken line.
“Instead of saying ‘Joe’ I would have said ‘text.’ I was so focused on making the case for Joe, I said ‘Joe’ and I gave the number. It was text,” Biden said in Detroit. “So, you know, I would have changed that. But you guys have printed it 15 times and it’s getting great results for us.”
Biden’s final call to action on the debate stage closed out a night of attacks from his rivals in a heated second round of Democratic debates. The debate, hosted by CNN in Detroit, pitted Biden against some of his early Democratic rivals, including California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
Also on the stage Wednesday were Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and businessman Andrew Yang.
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.