WASHINGTON (AP) — On the last day of August, President Joe Biden was asked about his campaign plans for the fall. He promised a Labor Day performance in Pittsburgh and said he would be “on the road from then on.”
Biden campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris on Labor Day, but he has largely not appeared on the campaign trail since then. In addition, his official events sometimes overshadow their own.
Case in point: After Hurricane Helene, Harris canceled campaign events in Las Vegas to return to Washington for a meeting at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But as Harris took the podium at the command center, Biden was in the Oval Office making his own comments about the storm response, shifting the political spotlight away from his intended successor.
The lack of a presidential campaign and occasional scheduling conflicts could be significant not only for Harris, but also as Democrats seek to retain control of the Senate, retake the House and compete in subsequent elections.
Even former President Barack Obama announced he would campaign for Harris. Obama will appear in Pittsburgh on Thursday and plans to spend the remainder of the Nov. 5 election traveling to battleground states. He also recorded commercials for Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan, Maryland and Florida.
It can be tough to balance being president and campaigning for a novel person
It is not uncommon for a lame-duck president to struggle with finding the right balance between holding office and playing a role in his potential successor’s campaign. Biden’s situation is unusual because he was seeking a second term until Harris’ dramatic exit from the race left her with a narrow time frame for her own term.
“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 made the situation more complicated in the miniature term. Biden canceled a campaign stop in Pennsylvania last week, and he and Harris made separate trips to the Carolinas and Georgia, respectively, on Wednesday to survey the damage and offer support.
This time their comments did not overlap. But as Harris spoke Friday about the importance of unions outside Detroit, Biden caused a stir with his surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. It was the first of his presidency.
Biden has made official trips to battleground states and will be in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday to campaign for Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. The Harris team did not comment on its hopes for Biden’s campaign role.
The president was born in Pennsylvania and maintains close ties with his union leaders and blue-collar voters. Former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile said she would “put him on a bus” to campaign.
“I would make sure he is out there in the final weeks and days of the campaign,” Brazile said. “It connects with people who will need it.”
Biden and Harris have appeared together at several other official events, including recently at the White House to combat gun violence and at a health care-related event in August, where Biden said, “We can’t let Kamala lose.” Both were constant in the Situation Room to discuss the growing conflict in the Middle East.
Biden and Harris’ only joint campaign event was a bit awkward
On Labor Day, when Biden and Harris made their only joint political appearance since the vice president took over, the White House asked Biden to introduce Harris. The break with protocol was intended to highlight their performance in supporting union members.
“If you elect Kamala Harris for president, it will be the best decision you have ever made,” Biden told the crowd.
But as he finished speaking, Biden began shaking hands with those around him – an awkward moment since it wasn’t Harris’ turn yet.
It’s an open question whether Harris really wants Biden’s facilitate, given that Democratic voters say they are far happier with her than with Biden as their nominee. Harris has praised the administration and her work within it while trying to show distance on some key issues.
That includes her call to enhance long-term capital gains taxes on wealthy Americans when Biden had pushed to lower them, her call to get tougher on the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially further tightening restrictions on immigrants seeking asylum , and didn’t comment on gun owners in Biden’s style.
There are many other demands on Biden’s time
Biden’s absence from the campaign may now worsen as his administration preoccupies post-Helene reconstruction efforts and the widening conflict in the Middle East.
“You don’t have to campaign if you just do your job,” said Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party. Biden visited parts of the state on Thursday, demonstrating, as Fried put it, that “the full force of the federal government stands with the people in times of sorrow and uncertainty.”
But a president’s time is always under strain – from last month’s U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York to Biden’s upcoming trip to Germany and Angola. Although the White House says there will be other political events afterward, the trip means he won’t have time to focus on campaigning for Harris until at least mid-October – just three weeks before Election Day.
Fried believes Biden will do it.
“Joe Biden loves campaigning,” she said. “You can see him walking around and talking to voters and communities, and it definitely puts an extra spring in his step and puts a smile on his face.”
Sometimes it’s good to stay out of it
There are times when the absence of a president can be helpful to that party’s candidate.
In 2008, the financial crisis caused President George W. Bush’s approval ratings to plummet. Republican nominee John McCain distanced himself from the White House on economic issues after criticizing the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War.
“If it helps him that I show up and support him – or if I’m against him and it helps him – either way, I want him to win,” Bush said.
When Democratic Vice President Al Gore sought the White House in 2000, 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 to Bush.
Paul Begala, one of the main architects of Clinton’s 1992 campaign, doesn’t see many parallels between Clinton and Biden.
“In 2000, Clinton was universally 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 be president.”
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Barrow reported from Evans, Georgia.
