Biden looks to maintain relevance in political conversation in final sprint to Election Day

[October 29, 2024]  By AAMER MADHANI

NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) — As President Joe Biden ’s 50 years in elected office near an end, he doesn’t appear content to quietly exit the political stage.

With a week to go before Election Day, Biden is intent on promoting his administration’s record and making the case for Americans to support Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats on the ballot — whether they want him or not.

He's determined to keep up a busy schedule during the final sprint to Nov. 5 even as many in his party appear to be keeping their distance from him.

Biden, in an exchange with reporters Monday, played down the fact that he hasn’t campaigned side-by-side with Harris since their joint Labor Day campaign appearance in Pittsburgh and that he's held few public campaign appearances with Democrats in competitive races.

“I’ve done a lot of surrogate stuff, and the fact of the matter is that I’ve also had to continue to be president at the same time,” Biden told reporters after casting his early vote on Monday in his home state of Delaware.

Biden said that he and Harris still “talk all the time.” He added that he has also made several visits to battleground states in his official capacity in recent months, and he plans to do more campaigning in the days ahead in Pennsylvania, including his childhood hometown of Scranton.

Officials say Biden also plans to attend a campaign-related event in Maryland on Tuesday with U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, conduct a series of campaign calls on Thursday, and return to battleground Pennsylvania on Friday to spotlight Democratic support for unions.

Biden said the Harris campaign is asking him to go “where they think I should be to help them the most.”

He had pledged to campaign hard for Democrats after dropping out. Yet few Democrats have invited him to campaign by their side since he ended his reelection bid.

The dynamic has meant the outgoing president has had to pick his spots carefully as he tries to remain a relevant voice in a chaotic political season.

Trump on Monday took to his social media platform to mock Harris and Democrats for keeping Biden at arm’s length.

“The Democrats have not only greatly demeaned and embarrassed Crooked Joe Biden, but now they’re demanding that he be nowhere near Lyin’ Kamala’s Campaign,” Trump said on Truth Social. “It’s not good enough that they took the Presidency away from him, just like you take candy away from a baby, but now they have to further embarrass him by telling him to, “GET LOST.”

To be certain, not all Democrats are avoiding Biden.

Two Democratic Senate candidates, Pennsylvania incumbent Sen. Bob Casey and Delaware Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, campaigned with Biden this month. Both have deep ties to the president.

Biden on Monday stopped at a breakfast spot near his home outside Wilmington with Rochester, a longtime ally who is vying to become the first Black woman to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.

President Joe Biden, second left, departs a polling station alongside first-time voters after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The night before their breakfast, he formally endorsed Blunt Rochester in a short video that her campaign released on social media. Biden, in his endorsement, praised Blunt Rochester for being “Delaware through and through."

The four-term House lawmaker has known Biden for about 30 years and is heavily favored to win the seat in the Democratic-dominated Delaware.

At several moments over the last few weeks, Biden has used campaign trips in friendly settings to troll Trump.

At a Pittsburgh union hall on Saturday, Biden wound through a mostly standard campaign speech before veering into a sharp attack on Trump backer Elon Musk. He accused the billionaire tech mogul of working illegally when he first came to the United States to attend college.

The “wealthiest man in the world is now his ally, right?” Biden said, referring to a recent Washington Post report questioning Musk’s status when he was a student at Stanford University. “Well, that wealthiest man in the world turned out to be illegal worker here when he was here” as a student.

Musk, who was born in South Africa, denies the allegation.

Last week, during a stop at a New Hampshire campaign office to meet Democratic volunteers, Biden borrowed some of Trump’s sharp rhetoric.

“We’ve got to lock him up,” Biden told the volunteers, before quickly amending his comments to note he meant that Democrats need to “politically lock him up.”

Blunt Rochester joined Biden on Monday as he waited in line for about 40 minutes at a busy early voting location not far from his home.

Biden thought he had one more election in him before deciding to end his campaign in July because of Democrats’ growing worries about his chances of defeating Trump.

He chatted with voters as he waited in line to cast his ballot, and helped push an older woman in a wheelchair who was ahead of him. He handed his identification to a election worker, who had him sign a form and announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

Outside the polling place, Biden told reporters that the moment was more “sweet” than bitter. He expressed confidence when asked if he thought Democrats — including Harris -- would win.

“I think we will,” he said.

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AP reporter Colleen Long in Washington contributed reporting.

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