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 there on.”
Biden did campaign with Vice President Kamala Harris on Labor Day, but he largely has been a campaign no-show since. Beyond that, sometimes his official events push hers to the background.
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Case in point: After Hurricane Helene, Harris scrapped campaign events in Las Vegas to hurry back to Washington for a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But as Harris stepped to a podium in the command center, Biden was delivering his own storm response comments from the Oval Office, pulling the political spotlight away from his intended successor.
The lack of presidential campaigning and occasional schedule clashes could matter not just for Harris but as Democrats try to hold control of the Senate and retake the House and compete in 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 recorded ads promoting Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan, Maryland and Florida.
It can be tricky juggling being president and campaigning for someone new
It is not uncommon for a lame-duck president to struggle with finding the right balance between fulfilling the job and carving out a role in a would-be successor's campaign. Biden's situation is unusual because he was seeking a second term until his dramatic departure from the race left Harris with a condensed 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 this past week and he and Harris made separate trips Wednesday to the Carolinas and Georgia, respectively, to survey the damage and offer support.
That time, their remarks did not overlap. But on Friday, while Harris was speaking about the importance of unions outside Detroit, Biden caused a stir by making a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. It was the first of his presidency.
Biden has taken official trips to battleground states and he will be in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday to campaign for Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. The Harris team had no comment on its hopes for Biden's campaign role.
The president was born in Pennsylvania and maintains a strong connection to its union leaders and blue-collar voters, and former Democratic National Committee chief Donna Brazile said she would “put him on a bus” to campaign there.
“I would make sure he is out there in the closing weeks and days of the campaign,” Brazile said. “He connects with people she will need.”
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 cannot let Kamala lose.” Both have been in the Situation Room frequently to discuss the growing conflict in the Middle East.
The lone joint campaign event by Biden and Harris was a little awkward
On Labor Day, when Biden and Harris made their lone joint political appearance since the vice president took over the top on the ticket, the White House asked that Biden introduce Harris. The break with protocol was meant to highlight her record of supporting union workers.
“If you elect Kamala Harris as president it will be the best decision you will have ever made,” Biden told the crowd.
But when he finished speaking, Biden began shaking hands with those around him — an awkward moment because Harris had yet to have her turn at the podium.
It is an open question whether Harris really wants Biden's help, given that Democratic voters say they are far happier with her than they were with Biden as their nominee. Harris has praised the administration and her work in it, while also seeking to show distance on some key issues.
That includes her call for raising long-term capital gains taxes for wealthy Americans when Biden had pushed to lower them, getting tougher on the U.S.-Mexico border by potentially further stiffening limits for immigrants seeking asylum and talking up being a gun owner in ways Biden does not.
There are lots of other demands on Biden's time
Biden's campaign absence could now be compounded as his administration deals with the recovery effort after Helene and the expanding conflict in the Mideast.
“You don’t need to campaign when you’re just doing your job,” said Nikki Fried, chair of the Democratic Party in Florida. 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 during times of heartbreak and uncertainty."
But then there are always big demands on a president's time — from the U.N. General Assembly meetings last month in New York to Biden's upcoming travel to Germany and Angola. Though the White House says there will be more political events after that, the trip means he will not 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 being on the campaign trail," she said. "You can see him walking around and talking to voters and to communities, and it certainly puts an extra lift in his step and a smile on his face.”
Sometimes staying out of it is good thing
There are times when a president's absence can be helpful to that party's candidate.
In 2008, the financial crisis sent President George W. Bush's approval ratings crashing. Republican nominee John McCain distanced himself from the White House on the economy after criticizing the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War.
“If my showing up and endorsing him helps him — or if I’m against him and it helps him — either way, I want him to win,” Bush said.
In 2000, when Democratic Vice President Al Gore was seeking 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 was the reason Gore lost an exceedingly close race to Bush.
Paul Begala, a key architect of Clinton’s 1992 campaign, does not see a lot of parallels between Clinton and Biden.
“In 2000, Clinton was broadly popular," Begala said. "Biden is not.”
Begala said Biden would do best to “focus on governing, and leave the campaigning to Kamala" and her top supporters.
“Lots 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.