Written by Amer Madani
NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — As President Joe Biden’s 50-year electoral term draws to a close, he doesn’t seem content to quietly retreat from the political scene.
With a week left until Election Day, Biden wants to tout his administration’s record and urge people to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats, whether they want him or not. That’s what I think.
While many party members appear to be distancing themselves from him, he is determined to maintain a busy schedule during the last spurt until November 5.
In an interaction with reporters Monday, Biden said he has not campaigned alongside Harris since their joint Labor Day campaign appearance in Pittsburgh and that he has not campaigned alongside the Democratic Party since. He downplayed the fact that he rarely appeared in public.
“I’ve done a lot of proxy work, but at the same time I’ve had to continue to be president,” Biden told reporters after voting early in his home state on Monday. It’s a fact,” he said. Delaware.
Biden said he still talks to Harris “all the time.” He added that he has made several official visits to battleground states in recent months and plans to campaign more in Pennsylvania, including his childhood hometown of Scranton.
Mr. Biden attended election-related events in Maryland on Tuesday with U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, held a series of campaign events on Thursday and was in the battleground state on Friday, officials said. He plans to return to Pennsylvania to shine a spotlight on the Democratic Party’s support for labor unions.
Biden said he wants Harris’ campaign to go “where they think I should be to best help them.”
He had vowed to campaign hard for the Democratic Party after dropping out. But since he ended his re-election bid, few Democrats have invited him to campaign with them.
This dynamic means that the outgoing president must choose his positions carefully as he seeks to remain a relevant voice in a chaotic political season.
President Trump on Monday mocked Harris and Democrats for keeping Biden at arm’s length on social media platforms.
“Not only have the Democrats so disparaged and embarrassed Crooked Joe Biden, they’re now asking him to stay away from the liar Kamala’s campaign,” President Trump said on Truth Social. “It’s not enough that they took the presidency from him, like taking candy from a baby, but now they have to embarrass him even more by telling him to lose it.”
To be sure, not all Democrats are avoiding Biden.
Two Democratic Senate candidates campaigned with Mr. Biden this month: incumbent Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Both have deep ties to the president.
Mr. Biden stopped by a breakfast place Monday near his home in suburban Wilmington with his longtime ally Mr. Rochester, who is vying to become the first Black woman to serve in the Delaware state Senate.
The night before the breakfast, he officially endorsed Brant Rochester in a short video released by Brant Rochester’s camp on social media. In his endorsement, Biden praised Brant Rochester as “a Delawarean through and through.”
The four-term congressman has known Biden for about 30 years and is heavily favored to win the seat in Democratic-controlled Delaware.
Biden has used his campaign trips in friendly environments to troll Trump several times in recent weeks.
On Saturday at a union hall in Pittsburgh, Mr. Biden finished a largely routine campaign speech before turning to a sharp attack on Mr. Trump supporter Elon Musk. He accused the billionaire tech tycoon of working illegally when he first came to the United States to attend college.
“The richest man in the world is now on his side, right?” Biden said, referring to a recent Washington Post report that questioned Musk’s status as a student at Stanford University. “Well, it turns out that the richest man in the world was an illegal worker when he was here as a student.”
Musk, who was born in South Africa, has denied the allegations.
Mr. Biden borrowed some of Mr. Trump’s sharp remarks when he stopped by a New Hampshire campaign office to meet with Democratic volunteers last week.
“We have to lock him up,” Biden told volunteers, before quickly amending his statement to say Democrats needed to “lock him up politically.”
Brant Rochester joined Biden on Monday after waiting in line for about 40 minutes at a crowded early voting site not far from his home.
Mr. Biden thought he had one more election before deciding to end his campaign in July as Democrats grew concerned about his chances of defeating Mr. Trump.
He chatted with voters as he waited in line to vote and helped push an elderly woman in a wheelchair in front of her. He handed an election worker his identification, had him sign a document, and told him, “Joseph Biden is on the ballot right now.”
Outside the polling place, Biden told reporters the moment was more “sweet” than bitter. Asked if he thought Democrats, including Harris, would win, he expressed confidence.
“I think it will,” he said.
Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed reporting.
First Published: October 28, 2024 4:33pm PDT
