Several swing-state Democrat senators recently distanced themselves on the campaign trail from President Joe Biden, fearing he will hurt their election chances as the leading Democrat on the ballot.
A total of nine Senate races in Ohio, Montana, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland will decide the balance of the Senate. The map heavily favors Republicans.
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Recent polling shows former President Donald Trump, who leads the Republican ticket, maintains a strong position among key swing-state voters and made historic inroads with Hispanic, black, and young voters.
While most voters doubt Biden’s mental fitness for office, including one-quarter of Democrats according to a Harvard CAPS/Harris survey in March, Biden’s poll numbers are at historic lows. Presidents historically need to average around 50 percent to win reelection. Biden’s approval rating is below 40 percent.
Vulnerable Senate Democrats, seeking to win in battleground states, appear worried that associating their brand with Biden’s might hurt them in November. Biden’s brand policies of open borders, soaring costs, and war on American energy might not play well among swing-state voters, they fear.
The Hill, in an article on Monday titled “Alarmed Democrats flee Biden’s ailing brand in battleground states,” detailed Democrats that are distancing themselves from Biden, including:
- Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
“Some of it I’ve agreed with the president, not afraid to stand up to him when it’s not right for Nevada,” Rosen told the Hill.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) speaks at a dedication ceremony for a new memorial to honor victims of the Holocaust at King David Memorial Chapel on April 24, 2022, in Las Vegas. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
- Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)
“There are numerous occasions where I don’t agree with administration policy. LNG is the most recent example as well as the decision [Biden] made about arms transfer to Israel,” Casey said.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) speaks during an event at AFSCME Council 13 offices, March 14, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)
- Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
“Biden’s running his race, I’m running mine. I’ve got a good brand, people understand who I am, and we got to remind them who I am and what I’ve accomplished and what I intend to accomplish,” Tester said. “They really are separate races.”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) on October 4, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
A Democrat senator told the Hill on condition of anonymity that Biden’s age is a major factor in Biden’s brand.
“If you go out there and do a focus group, the focus groups all say, ‘He’s 200 years old. You got to be kidding me,’” the senator explained. “And the worst part about it is for unaffiliated voters or people that haven’t made up their mind, they look at this and say: ‘You have to be kidding us. These are our choices?’ And they indict us for not taking it seriously.”
Colleagues “know this is a problem,” the senator said, noting Biden will remain atop the ticket, and that “this is the ticket we have to get behind and we have to win with this ticket. “We’ll see how much gravity we can defy.”
Biden suffers from atrial fibrillation, peripheral neuropathy in his feet, and hyperlipidemia, according to his annual physical conducted in February by physician Kevin O’Connor. The health challenges might explain why he struggles to remain upright. Biden has tripped, tumbled, and stumbled at least five times during his presidency.
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Biden implemented a new strategy of walking to and from Marine One with multiple aides to “draw less attention” to his physical ailments, Axios’s Hans Nichols and Alex Thompson reported in April. Biden also began boarding Air Force One from the shorter steps at the rear of the aircraft, instead of the taller staircase at the front. Biden also does not wear typical dress shoes with his suits. He wears a specially crafted sports shoe to help him walk, a typical wardrobe change for the elderly.
Age is not Biden’s only branding problem. Soaring costs are the number one issue among voters. “People are shocked at the cost of a house and the cost of drugs,” the second senator admitted.
Biden’s inflation peaked in June 2022 at a year-over-year rate of 9.0 percent, nearly one and a half years after he took office. Inflation remains sticky and recently rose again, Breitbart News reported. In March, inflation increased to 3.5 percent. The average Wisconsin family lost $21,981 due to the increased cost of living under Biden, the Republican National Committee estimated in May. A McDonald’s Big Mac burger, a medium beverage, and a medium fries meal costs $18 in some locations, up $10 from 2018 when Donald Trump was president.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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