‘We all have concerns’: Democrats worry about flawed Biden campaign

Congressional Democrats have concerns about President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, with some calling for a new approach — or risk Donald Trump returning to the White House.

Some veteran Democrats see a campaign that needs stronger leadership, more diversity and a stronger message. While they credit Biden for building what they called a successful first term, Democratic members said they are concerned about the campaign’s ability to win over skeptical independents and frustrated Democratic voters.

Some senior members of Biden’s party have raised concerns about the campaign’s construction, strategy and messaging. They said the president and his campaign team need to spend more time explaining how his administration is fighting still-nagging inflation and talking about conservative Supreme Court justices’ 2022 decision to roll back Roe v. Wade and its federal abortion rights protections.

The bottom line is the Biden campaign needs to connect with voters and convince them that the president — not the legally entangled Trump — is more focused on improving their finances and lives, Democratic members said last week, before Trump steamrolled to victory in Iowa’s first-of-thecycle GOP presidential nominating contest.

“Well, I think those of us who helped Joe Biden get elected president are not real comfortable at this point with what we’re seeing,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said last week. “It just appears that the people who were engaged in helping craft the message and direction of the 2020 campaign are not actively involved in this campaign.

“Now, that doesn’t mean — it’s not too late to broaden the participation. But I think part of that discomfort is, in order to win, you have to have your best team effort,” Thompson added. “That team effort includes who he has, but he also needs men and women of color in the room, Latino, Asian. I think it’s that the tent is too small right now.”

The concerns also include the campaign’s messaging, which so far has largely been focused on a bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden and his team have tried to convince voters would not have happened without his involvement. More recently, the president has begun to speak more forcefully about what he contends is Trump’s threat to American democracy, his efforts to overturn the 2020 elections, as well as the former president’s actions before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Congressional Democrats said they see the democracy message as a strong one for Biden, calling on him to keep beating that drum on the campaign trail.

“I think the president’s … last couple of speeches that he’s put forward have been good ones,” said Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va. “You know, I think we’re all connected on the theme about protecting democracy is an important one.”

Several House and Senate Democrats said they were concerned that the president and his campaign surrogates have not been more vocal and forceful in trying to convince voters that his legislative victories and other actions have bolstered the economy and made their lives better.

“We all have concerns. We want to make sure it’s a victorious campaign,” former House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said last week.

“I think Joe Biden has had as successful an administration as any president, perhaps since Franklin Roosevelt. And our job is to make sure the American people know how it affected them and their families so positively,” he said. Asked whether Democrats and the Biden campaign have made the case well enough, Hoyer replied: “We need to make it more.”

Frustrations among many Democrats about Team Biden’s inability to sell what most in the party call a successful term were palpable.

“The Biden administration has a rich portfolio that they’ve accomplished. I think there’s some continued concern about how that portfolio is being delivered, and who’s delivering it,” Thompson said. “And so I think it’s just a matter of, you know, getting some more people under the tent. And, so, how can we do this better?”

Signs of bolstering the campaign came in recent days, with White House climate czar John Kerry and infrastructure chief Mitch Landrieu departing their government posts for what are expected to be roles in the campaign. But, to Thompson’s point about diversity, both are white men.

Quentin Fulks, principal deputy campaign manager for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, said Sunday that he understands why many Democrats have concerns.

“Well, first of all, what I would say to these critics is that I understand what they’re feeling. They’re feeling urgency. They feel afraid. Democracy is at stake,” he told MSNBC. “We’re not just saying that and then dragging our feet. We’re building a campaign that’s going to be the campaign that we need to be effective to win in November.

Democratic members interviewed last week and others who have spoken in other settings pointed to polling that showed Biden in a dead heat nationally with Trump. Members also expressed concerns that Biden had, according to a RealClearPolitics average of multiple polls, fallen behind Trump in key swing states. That list included Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada — with Trump’s lead in Michigan growing to 6 percentage points, according to RealClear’s average.

Biden’s approval rating dipped to a record low of 33 percent in an ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday. By contrast, Trump’s lowest approval rating during his term was 36 percent.