Biden’s trip turns into a victory lap
President rejoices after Democrats hold on to Senate
BALI, Indonesia — President Joe Biden’s current trip abroad has historical precedent: Soon after a midterm election, a president tends to go overseas to reassert U.S. power — and often, to escape bad news for his party at home.
In November 1994, days after Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in decades, President Bill Clinton slipped away to the Philippines. In 2010, after Democrats lost 63 House seats, President Barack Obama took a swing through India, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Portugal. When Republicans lost control of the House in 2018, President Donald Trump jetted to France for an Armistice Day celebration.
A few days ago, Biden seemed to be preparing for a trip to Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia under a similar cloud, amid a low approval rating, many polls trending Republican and the fact that the president’s party nearly always loses seats in midterm elections.
Then the tide started turning.
Before Biden left Washington on Thursday, it had become clear that a Republican rout had not materialized, with many races too close to call and control of both houses of Congress still in the balance. He made a congratulatory call to Tina Kotek, the governor-elect of Oregon, while aboard Marine One en route to Egypt and has not stopped working the phones since.
On Saturday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he had arrived for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, he was able to return to his hotel from a gala dinner to speak with victorious Democrats back home, including Reps. David Trone of Maryland and Pat Ryan of New York.
By Sunday, when the news came that Democrats had retained a Senate majority with a narrow victory by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Biden’s trip began to look more like a victory lap.
“I’m incredibly pleased by the turnout,” Biden said. “And I think it’s a reflection of the quality of our candidates. And the — they’re all running on the same program.”
Biden’s comments, which came in unscheduled remarks to reporters at his hotel, seemed to reference a remark by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, who had complained of Republican “candidate quality” in Senate races around the country.
Biden reiterated an argument he had made throughout the campaign season: that Republicans lacked a real platform and were more focused on cultural controversies than kitchen-table issues.
He also said that the election results would bolster his standing going into a highly anticipated meeting Monday with President Xi Jinping of China ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Bali: “I know I’m coming in stronger, but I don’t need that,” Biden said.
House Republicans did put forth a platform for governing during the campaign, but it was relatively vague, with most Republican candidates concentrating on criticizing Biden and Democrats rather than talking about inflation, crime, immigration and other hot-button issues. Republicans also had to contend with Trump dividing the party.
In the days leading up to the election, Biden and fellow Democrats had struggled with whether to address voter concerns over inflation and the economy, or to stress the threats to abortion rights and even to democracy itself.
The Senate result was the culmination of an intense, final-days campaign push that sought to recast the election on more favorable terms to Democrats — yielding an outcome that has already surpassed many Democrats’ best expectations.
For much of the campaign season, Biden struggled with low approval ratings and facing a Republican Party whose leaders wanted to make the midterms a referendum on his leadership. He fielded few requests to stump for Democratic incumbents and candidates in purple states. For example, he never campaigned with Cortez Masto.
The president spent time in safer territories, including Oregon, a state that last elected a Republican governor in 1982, to boost Kotek, the embattled Democratic nominee for governor. Biden’s schedule picked up in the final weeks, including a sprint in the last days of the race that took him to New Mexico, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York.
He also sharpened a message with an economic focus, seeking to cast the election as a choice between Democrats who were working to lower the cost of electricity, prescription drugs and other staples and Republicans, who Biden said would worsen inflation and possibly cut Social Security and Medicare.
In meetings in Phnom Penh, Biden focused on countering China, containing North Korea and promoting human rights.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters Sunday that the midterm elections helped the president enforce “what this election said about American democracy” abroad.