President Joe Biden feels vindicated after delaying a Republican red rush Tuesday night, a move that boosted his odds of entering the 2024 presidential campaign.
“He’s running,” a White House official told Politico’s Playbook.
After calling Democrats last night, the president had another round of congratulatory calls Wednesday morning, including a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi and a Republican: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
The White House released a video of the president on the phone with various candidates. Visibly elated, Biden offered his congratulations, told them he would sleep better knowing they won, and told them, “God loves you.” There was a cameo by Commander Biden, the president’s dog.
He also spoke with Representative Matt Cartwright, Representative Teresa Legere Fernandez, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, and Representative-elect Robert Garcia.
He spoke with Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Raphael Warnock, whose races have yet to be called.
He finally spoke to Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and Representative Val Demings – both of whom lost their contests.
The Republicans were still expected to win control of the House when all the votes were counted but there was no massive Republican victory, which the Democrats had feared.
Control of Congress has not been called because results are still required in several competitive House districts and key Senate contests.
It’s a huge shift for Biden, who many Democrats kept a low profile on Election Day, fearful of low approval ratings and voter discontent with the rising cost of living.
Concerns about how the Democrats will fare in the midterm elections have even had some in the party talking about who should replace Biden as the presidential candidate in two years.
Even with more than 60 House races and four Senate races to go, Biden is expected to defy historical trends of massive losses for the president’s party in the midterm elections.
President Biden held phone calls with the candidates on Tuesday night
The White House released video of the Biden calls and that included a cameo by Commander Biden
Barack Obama saw his party lose 63 seats in the House of Representatives and six seats in the Senate in 2010
Bill Clinton, who campaigned with Senator Ted Kennedy in 1994, lost 54 House seats and eight Senate seats that year
The only modern president to challenge this trend was George W. Bush in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, when his popularity was at an all-time high.
Biden is already doing a better job than Barack Obama and Bill Clinton did in the first half of their presidencies.
Obama saw his party lose 63 House seats and six Senate seats in 2010. Clinton lost 54 House seats and eight Senate seats in 1994.
President Biden spent election night at the White House calling more than 30 Democrats to offer his congratulations on their victory. He even sent a text message to Democratic nominee John Fetterman after Fetterman beat celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz in the competitive Pennsylvania Senate race.
Even without the red wave, the results of the midterm elections will reshape Biden’s next two years in office. If Republicans take control of the House, as expected, they have vowed to launch a series of investigations into the administration.
The 79-year-old Biden has said repeatedly that he plans to run for a second term. But he is expected to discuss the matter in depth with his family when they are all together for the holiday season.
In a possible warning sign for 2024, about two-thirds of voters polled by AP VoteCast said they think Biden is not a strong leader. More than half said that the boss is not honest or trustworthy and that they do not have the mental capacity to function effectively as a boss.
But for now, the White House is focused on Tuesday’s results.
Officials point to their successful push for abortion rights and democracy as part of the reason Republicans didn’t get the gains they expected.
The multiple states with abortion-related ballot measures appeared destined to score victories for abortion rights advocates, underscoring Democrats’ argument that reproductive rights were a big issue for their base this year after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
And it wasn’t just an issue the Democrats supported.
In the red state of Kentucky and the state of Michigan, voters revered miscarriage rights in their state constitution – join the California and Vermont Democrats in making this move.
But some observers would argue that Biden best helped his party on election night by staying out of the way.
The president has held only a few campaign rallies this election year, sticking to small events and fundraisers. He targeted mostly blue districts, getting Democrats to get out and vote.
But his record was on the ballot even if his name wasn’t. Voters made it clear that they were still dissatisfied with the state of the economy under his leadership.
Joe Biden and Barack Obama campaign together in Philadelphia on Saturday
Polls found that voters said inflation was their biggest concern this election year, closely followed by abortion.
About 33% of voters described inflation as the most important issue as they cast their votes, according to polls on polls conducted by television networks, while about 27% referred to abortion.
Other voters cited crime, gun politics and immigration as their main concerns.
In troubling signs for Biden, three-quarters of voters who voted on Tuesday felt negative about the economy, and more than three-quarters said inflation had caused hardship for them and their families over the past year, according to opinion polls.
They gave the president a 45% approval rating for his time in the Oval Office, citing their dissatisfaction with the economy.
