WASHINGTON — On the last day of August, President Joe Biden was asked about his fall campaign plans. He promised a Labor Day appearance in Pittsburgh and said he would be “on the road from then on.”
Biden campaigned Vice President Kamala Harris on Labor Day, but since then he has been largely absent from the campaign. Moreover, his official events sometimes push hers into the background.
Example: afterwards Hurricane HeleneHarris canceled campaign events in Las Vegas to rush back to Washington for a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But as Harris took to a podium in the command center, Biden delivered his own firestorm response remarks from the Oval Office, drawing the political spotlight away from his intended successor.
The lack of presidential campaigns and occasional schedule clashes could matter not only for Harris, but also as Democrats try to maintain control of the Senate, retake the House of Representatives and enter races further down the ballot .
Even former President Barack Obama announced he will campaign for Harris. Obama will appear in Pittsburgh on Thursday and plans to spend the remaining time before the Nov. 5 election traveling to battleground states. He also shot ads promoting Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan, Maryland and Florida.
It is not unusual for a lame-duck president to struggle to find the right balance between doing his job and taking on a role in a would-be successor’s campaign. Biden’s situation is unusual because he was seeking a second term until he left office dramatic departure from the race left Harris with a shortened time frame for her own run.
“I think he’s doing his job as president,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday. “I think that’s the most important thing.”
Hurricane Helene has complicated matters in the short term. Biden canceled a campaign stop in Pennsylvania last week he and Harris made separate trips to the Carolinas and Georgia, respectively, on Wednesday to assess damage and provide support.
That time their comments did not overlap. But on Friday, while Harris was talk about the importance of unions outside of DetroitBiden caused a stir with a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. It was the first of his presidency.
Biden has been making official trips to battleground states and will be in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday to campaign for Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. The Harris team had no comment on hopes for Biden’s campaign role.
The president, a Pennsylvania native, has strong ties to labor leaders and labor voters, and former Democratic National Committee head Donna Brazile said she would “put him on a bus” to campaign there.
“I would make sure he is present in the last weeks and days of the campaign,” Brazile said. “He connects with people who need them.”
Biden and Harris have appeared together at several other official events, including a recent one at the White House on combating gun violence, and at a health care-related event in August where Biden said, “We can’t let Kamala lose.” Both have been in the Situation Room regularly to discuss the growing conflict in the Middle East.
On Labor Day, as Biden and Harris made their only joint political appearance since the vice president took over, the White House asked Biden to introduce Harris to him. The break from protocol was intended to highlight her record of supporting union workers.
“If you elect Kamala Harris as president, it will be the best decision you will ever make,” Biden told the crowd.
But as he finished speaking, Biden began shaking hands with those around him — an awkward moment because it wasn’t yet Harris’ turn on stage.
It’s an open question whether Harris really wants Biden’s help, since Democratic voters say they do much happier with her than with Biden as their nominee. Harris has praised the government and its work there, while also trying to show distance on some key issues.
This also applies to her call for increasing long-term capital gains taxes for wealthy Americans as Biden pushed to cut them, tightening tough on US-Mexico border possible further tightening of borders for immigrants seeking asylum And talking about being a gun owner in ways that Biden does not.
Biden’s absence from the campaign could now be exacerbated as his administration deals with recovery efforts after Helene and the… expanding the conflict in the Middle East.
“You don’t have to campaign if you’re just doing your job,” said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Biden visited parts of the state on Thursday and demonstrated, as Fried put it, that “the full force of the federal government stands with the people in times of heartbreak and uncertainty.”
But there are always big demands on a president’s time — from last month’s UN General Assembly meetings in New York to Biden’s upcoming trip to Germany and Angola. Although the White House says there will be more political events afterward, the trip means he won’t have time to turn his attention to campaigning for Harris until at least mid-October — just three weeks before Election Day.
Fried thinks Biden will make it work.
“Joe Biden loves to campaign,” she said. “You can see him walking around and talking to voters and communities, and it definitely gives him an extra boost and a smile on his face.”
There are times when a president’s absence can be helpful to that party’s candidate.
In 2008, the financial crisis caused President George W. Bush’s approval ratings to plummet. Republican candidate John McCain distanced himself from the White House on the economy after criticizing the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq.
“If my coming and supporting him helps him — or if I’m against him and it helps him — either way, I want him to win,” Bush said.
In 2000, as Democratic Vice President Al Gore sought the White House, he criticized President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal and took other steps to distance himself from Clinton. Some Democrats later speculated that this was the reason Gore lost an extremely close race against Bush.
Paul Begala, a key architect of Clinton’s 1992 campaign, does not see many parallels between Clinton and Biden.
“In 2000, Clinton was generally popular,” Begala said. “Biden is not.”
Begala said Biden would do best to “focus on governing and leave the campaign to Kamala” and her key supporters.
“A lot of people can campaign for her: the Obamas, the Clintons, Oprah, Taylor Swift,” Begala said. “But only Joe Biden can become president.”
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Barrow reported from Evans, Georgia.