President Biden wants to campaign for Vice President Harris in the last days before the election.
- Harris’ campaign keeps responding: We’ll get back to you, three people familiar with the dynamic told Axios.
Why it matters: Harris’ team believes Biden is a political liability at a crucial time in the campaign — but is reluctant to directly say they don’t want him to campaign for her.
- It’s the latest example of Democrats, and even some of Biden’s staff, tiptoeing around the 81-year-old president’s ego and feelings.
- One person familiar with the situation compared it to a slow-moving break-up: Harris’ team and allies respect Biden’s service, but are wary of further tying Harris to the unpopular president on the campaign trail.
- Biden’s approval rating is 39%, according to FiveThirtyEight‘s average.
- “He’s a reminder of the last four years, not the new way forward,” said another person familiar with the situation, in a nod to Harris’ campaign slogan.
Driving the news: Biden’s team has held days open for campaigning, only for Harris’ team to let those days pass, two people familiar with the matter told Axios. (A White House official disputed this.)
- There are currently no scheduled events for Harris and Biden to campaign together before Election Day, a week from Tuesday.
Zoom in: Many on Biden’s team — including some still on the campaign that Harris inherited from the president — believe Biden could help Harris in the final days.
- They also believe Harris’ team is underestimating Biden’s appeal among white, working-class communities in the Rust Belt — including in the critical state of Pennsylvania, where Biden has spent extensive time during his life and career.
- In 2020, Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 numbers with some of those voters — helping him to defeat Donald Trump.
Biden’s team — responding to the president’s wishes — recently has become more assertive.
- Biden’s announcement this past week that he would campaign solo in Pittsburgh this weekend caught many on Harris’ team off-guard, two people familiar with the matter told Axios.
The Harris campaign’s “Day Ahead” email for Saturday detailed its planned events with surrogates including actress Kerry Washington, Saginaw (Mich.) Mayor Brenda Moore, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and others.
- Biden’s stops in Pittsburgh weren’t mentioned.
- Earlier this month, Biden made an unannounced first appearance in the White House briefing room to take questions from reporters — accidentally stepping on media coverage of a Harris event in Michigan.
As the June debate against Trump that led to his withdrawal from the presidential race showed, Biden at 81 is now an uneven communicator.
- Some Harris aides were frustrated this week when Biden told supporters in New Hampshire that “we gotta lock [Trump] up.”
- Biden quickly clarified he meant lock up Trump “politically.” But Trump and other Republicans jumped on the president’s remark to claim Biden’s administration had prosecuted Trump unfairly.
What’s next: Biden’s team has been in talks about him making campaign stops for Democratic Senate candidates in Maryland and Delaware, the president’s home state.
- That could scratch his itch to get on the campaign trail — and satisfy the Harris team’s goal of having Biden keep a relatively low profile.
- The White House views Biden’s trips as in addition to any campaigning he does for the Harris-Walz ticket, rather than instead of it.
What they’re saying: The Harris campaign and the vice president’s office did not comment.
- A White House official said the Harris campaign arranged Biden’s Pittsburgh trip and wasn’t caught off guard by it.
- “There is always speculation in political circles, but this is not accurate,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.
- “We are in close touch with the campaign to determine when, where and how the president can be helpful.”
