Biden campaign scrambles to adjust to new uncertainty
Candidate tests negative after Trump’s positive results push danger of virus to forefront of campaign
Joe Biden tested negative for the coronavirus, his doctor announced Friday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump’s positive test drastically altered the nature of the race and underscored the health and political risks of seeking to engage voters in a pandemic.
Biden still intended to travel to Michigan later in the day, where he was previously scheduled to hold campaign events. The trip comes after both Biden and others who had recently travelled with him were tested for the virus. In a message posted on Twitter, Biden said the episode offered a reminder to “wear a mask, keep social distance, and wash your hands.”
Biden, who refrained from holding inperson events for months as the country struggled to confront the virus, had only recently — and cautiously — begun to campaign on the ground consistently in key battleground states, amid concerns from local Democrats that he had not been visible enough. Trump held large-scale rallies and often played down the risks of a virus that has killed more than 207,000 people. On Tuesday, the two candidates shared a debate stage in Ohio.
Trump’s diagnosis again pushed the dangers of the virus to the forefront of the campaign with just one month until Election Day and injected new uncertainty into an already extraordinarily volatile race.
Biden, 77, was tested Friday, as were others who attended the presidential debate with him earlier in the week, including his wife, Jill Biden. A statement from Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, said that COVID-19 “was not detected.”
Democrats, in the meantime, urged Biden to continue on the campaign trail.
“This is not a hiatus of the campaign,” said Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, even as he said he expected the campaign to continue to follow “good safety rules.”
Biden has for months sought to make the campaign a referendum on Trump’s stewardship of the virus crisis, and Trump’s positive test result makes the matter both more urgent and more politically delicate. Some Democrats were urging Biden to continue to emphasize the virus while remaining respectful of Trump’s condition.
“He doesn’t even need to bring up Trump by name, just say it’s very serious, even the president can get it,” Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio said.
On Friday, Biden tweeted: “Jill and I send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery. We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family.”
In a note sent to staff, Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, asked the team to “refrain from posting about the situation on social media unless otherwise directed by your manager,” and promised that “the health and safety of the entire team has been, and will remain, our No. 1 priority.”
As Trump, 74, held packed rallies over the summer and declined to wear a mask consistently, Biden had insisted it was more important to model public health recommendations about social distancing. Amid concerns about the health of both the candidate and his supporters, the Biden campaign was run almost entirely virtually.
That calculation began to change around Labor Day as Biden, under the urging of Democratic officials in swing states, pursued more cautious in-person interactions with voters beyond his home state of Delaware and neighboring Pennsylvania. His campaign said this week that their team would resume in-person canvassing in important battleground states.