Out West, Biden looking to deliver votes for Dems
Push comes with inflation, high gas prices in spotlight
PORTLAND, Ore. — President Joe Biden strode into the telephone bank at a crowded union hall and eagerly began making calls and eating doughnuts — one frosted, one glazed — as he tries every page in the political playbook to deliver votes for Democrats.
“What a governor does matters,” Biden said in a pep talk to volunteers making Friday night calls for gubernatorial hopeful Tina Kotek and other candidates. “It matters! It matters, it matters, it matters!”
Before leaving Portland on Saturday, the president planned to attend a reception for Kotek and give a speech about his administration’s efforts to bring down costs for Americans.
It was the final stop on a four-day swing through Oregon, California and Colorado that has encapsulated Biden’s strategy for turning out voters on Election Day on Nov. 8: Flex the levers of government to help boost candidates, promote an agenda aimed at strengthening an uncertain economy and haul in campaign cash.
And this: Show up for candidates when Biden can be helpful, steer clear of places where a visit from a president with approval ratings under 50% isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Throughout the trip, Biden had to contend with a troubling new inflation report and rising gas prices.
“Folks are still struggling. We can’t kid ourselves about that,” Biden said Saturday.
He also warned that Republicans want to roll back new legislation that limits the cost of prescription drugs and fights climate change.
All of that, he said, “goes away, gone” if Democrats lose control of Congress in the midterms.
In Oregon, Democratic officials hope Biden can help consolidate the party’s support behind Kotek. The party is in danger of losing the governor’s race in the traditional Democratic stronghold as Betsy Johnson — who has quit both the Democratic and Republican parties — has run a wellfinanced race against Kotek and GOP nominee Christine Drazan.
The settings throughout the president’s trip were tailor-made for him.
In Los Angeles on Thursday, at a construction site for an extension on the city’s subway line, he spoke about his massive infrastructure law. Giant cranes rose up behind him as he stood before bulldozers and excavators. Many on hand were hard-hat workers in construction orange.
The stop combined many Biden agenda successes: investments in infrastructure, job creation, fighting climate change by promoting mass transit.
“When you see these projects in your neighborhood — cranes going up, shovels in the ground, lives being changed — I want you to feel the way I do: pride,” Biden said. “Pride in what we can do when we do it together. This is what I mean when I say we’re building a better America.”
But his remarks came as the government reported that consumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy costs, jumped 6.6% in September from a year ago — the fastest such pace in four decades. Biden acknowledged that people were being “squeezed by the cost of living. It’s been true for years, and folks don’t need a report to tell them they’re being squeezed.”
Democratic candidates have been far more likely to appear with Biden at official White House events underscoring their achievements than at overt campaign events. In California, Biden was joined by state lawmakers
and the city’s mayor, and he called them out individually. Rep. Karen Bass, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, made a takeout run with Biden to a taco shop. Biden raised $5 million at a fundraiser in the Brentwood backyard of TV producer Marcy Carsey.
In Colorado, the president designated the first national monument of his administration at Camp Hale, a World War II-era training site, with a group of Democrats by his side. His audience in a canyon of stunning views, tall pines and bright yellow aspens included Sen. Michael Bennet, who is facing a tough reelection
campaign.
Early voting is underway in California and begins this week in Oregon and Colorado. The president notably stayed away from states where his presence could hurt Democrats, so far skipping Nevada and Arizona, where Democratic senators are in tough races.
Democrats are trying to retain power in the face of widespread economic uncertainty and the traditional midterm headwinds against the party in power.
Republicans, aiming to regain the House and Senate, think they can capitalize on gas prices, inflation and the economy.