While President Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race has cost him his chance at a second term, it has also given Democrats recent hope that he will be bolder in the remaining months of his first term.
Lawmakers say Biden’s recent status as a term-less president – a position few would have predicted just six weeks ago – has freed their White House ally from the grueling rigors of the campaign trail and the thorny political concerns that come with re-election.
They hope that an empowered Biden will utilize his unusual position to advance, if necessary by executive action, a number of Democratic policy priorities that would have no chance in a deeply divided Congress but could put the spotlight on certain issues and trigger a messaging offensive in his final months in office.
“He has five months to get some things done,” said Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (DN.H.), chair of the moderate New Democrat Coalition.
“He can really contribute [on] what is significant to him and what impression he wants to make. And he doesn’t have to worry about what other people expect of his performance,” she added. “I think that could be liberating for him.”
Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race last month and endorsed Vice President Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket. The decision rocked the political world, led into uncharted territory and turned Biden into that rarest of political creatures: a willing president on the brink of collapse in his first term.
Biden is only the second president in 60 years not to run for a second term, the last being former President Lyndon Johnson, who dropped out of the race in 1968 due to impoverished health and failing popularity during the Vietnam War.
For the president, it is the first time in his roughly five-decade political career that he does not have to look forward to – and prepare for – the next election, after completing seven successful races for the Senate seat, two terms as vice president under former President Obama and one term as the country’s head of state himself.
The decision seemed agonizing for Biden, who was initially determined to stay in the race even after the disastrous June debate that derailed his campaign. But the unusual lively could prove politically advantageous for the president, according to a number of confident House Democrats, allowing him to bolster his legacy in areas as diffuse as foreign policy, the economy and the environment in ways he might have avoided if he were still vying for a second term.
“President Biden no longer has a burning ambition to run for anything. And so for the first time in his life – his political life, which, if you remember, goes back to when he was 27 or 26 – he can think about his legacy,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). “So he can burnish his legacy, even though he already has a pretty shiny legacy.”
Biden launched his swan song of sorts delayed last month with a series of major proposals to reform the Supreme Court, including limiting the length of time justices can serve at 18 years, establishing a mandatory code of conduct for the judiciary and a constitutional amendment saying former presidents do not enjoy immunity from federal criminal charges – a direct response to the Supreme Court’s decision to grant former President Trump some protection from legal proceedings.
Certainly, the proposals have little chance of becoming law – especially the change in term limits and immunity provisions, which would require significant support in the US Congress. Nevertheless, the proposal appealed to Democrats, who are now eagerly awaiting further action from an unfettered Biden.
“The Supreme Court we have now is not the Supreme Court I learned about in my civics class,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “I hope he continues to talk about the need for a Court that is not influenced by money or ideology, if you [jurists] who actually want to interpret the Constitution and demand the highest possible standards from the Court.”
Connolly, who once worked as a staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was there, said he wants the president to find a way to ensure continued funding for Ukraine, a move that has been called into question as more Republicans adopt an isolationist view on foreign policy.
Congress approved more than $60 billion for Ukraine in April, the result of months of bipartisan wrangling, as well as within the warring House Republican caucus, over the future of foreign aid. But with Kyiv still at war with Moscow, lawmakers on both sides are concerned that Washington’s support for the controversial ally could erode in the future. Those worries intensified after Trump nominated Republican Senator JD Vance (Ohio), a known critic of Ukraine aid, as his running mate.
“I hope he finds a way to ensure continued funding for Ukraine. That’s really important,” Connolly said. “Our allies and Ukraine itself are deeply concerned about the uncertainty of the future and the U.S. commitment. And anything he can do to ensure that commitment before he leaves office will be a really important part of his legacy.”
McGovern said Biden’s “lame duck” status could also open up an opportunity for him to promote a Middle East peace deal, an issue that has been at the forefront in Washington – and around the world – since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The war has politically troubled Biden and Democrats since the deadly offensive, pitting the party’s most staunch allies with Israel against pro-Palestinian progressives outraged by the rising civilian death toll in Gaza.
“He has the opportunity to try to broker a lasting peace in the Middle East and perhaps put us on the path of reconciliation and peace in the world rather than always being on the brink of a major conflict,” McGovern said.
The Massachusetts Democrat also said he wants Biden to “change our stupid policy toward Cuba,” calling it “a relic of the Cold War.”
“He should take them off the terrorist list and do everything he can with his executive order to normalize relations as much as possible,” McGovern said. “And that’s the right thing to do not only because it will help the Cuban people, but also because hundreds of thousands of Cubans are coming to the United States because they can’t survive in Cuba because of all the sanctions we have imposed.”
Democrats are also urging Biden to take further steps to protect the environment.
Last month, Democratic Rep. Nanette Díaz Barragán (Calif.), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, wrote to the president urging the executive branch to take action to curb pollution in the international shipping industry, a major contributor to climate-changing greenhouse gases. The initiative was supported by more than a dozen other Democrats in the House, including Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Washington), chair of the Progressive Caucus, and Mark Takano (Calif.), whose Southern California district has some of the worst air quality in the country.
“Given the rapidly growing threat of climate change, the shipping industry must change course to avoid devastating impacts,” The lawmakers wrote to Biden.
Other Democrats pointed to lesser-known issues they believe Biden should address in his final months in office.
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), a senior Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, said he hoped the president would make it clear that the United States has no intention of buying up Bitcoin as a formal policy – a response to Trump’s promise to delivered last month at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville to utilize his second term in the White House to introduce a nationwide policy of stockpiling the controversial cryptocurrency.
“He should make it clear that the U.S. government will not invest taxpayer money in cryptocurrencies,” Sherman said. “I was shocked when Trump suggested the other side.”
Of course, there are clear limits to what Biden can accomplish without Congress’s assist. And several Democrats pointed out that the administration is not doing much on issues like expanding paid family leave, access to child care and other family-friendly economic benefits that are pillars of the party’s agenda. already accepted a series of executive actions, leaving the President with little left without additional funding from the Capitol.
“I think he’s done everything he could do outside of the budget process,” one Democratic aide said. “He’s doing his job, but without the budget authority — without money — there’s very little you can do. He’s done everything he could do regulatory-wise.”
Biden still has to be careful about campaign considerations even though he is no longer on the ballot. Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland urged the president to wait until after the November election to take any action to bolster his campaign, as doing so could hurt Harris.
“I wouldn’t think he’s going to try to do dramatic things that they think could undermine Kamala’s chances there and be used against her,” Ivey said.
At the very least, however, Democrats are urging Biden to stay the course in his recent political role, because his track record in legislation speaks for itself – whether as a “lame duck” or not.
“He should do what he has done so far: do his job as president to the best of his ability and hopefully communicate that to the American people,” Sherman said.
“Nothing is as good for politics as good politics and good performance.”
