The White House knew that the cancellation of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of student loan debt was never going to be universally popular. But beyond conservatives who accused President Joe Biden of waste and progressives who said he didn’t go far enough, another contingent joined the anti-forgiveness chorus: the Democratic Party’s most vulnerable incumbents.
“We should be focusing on passing my legislation to expand Pell Grants for lower income students,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NM), who won her seat by less than 3 points in 2016 and whose re-election is seen as a toss-up.
“The administration should have further targeted the relief and proposed a way to pay for this plan,” said Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), whose polling for re-election has narrowed to nearly within the margin of error.
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“Waiving debt for those already on a trajectory to financial security sends the wrong message to the millions of Ohioans,” said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), whose own race for the U.S. Senate is among the toughest—and most expensive—in the country.
The tepid, or even hostile, response by at-risk Democrats to the achievement of one of Biden’s signature campaign promises illustrates the difficult balancing act being practiced by the president’s supporters across the country—each weighing how closely to align themselves with a president who’s been inundated by low favorability numbers for months, without offending the party faithful.
Perhaps that’s why some Democrats like Ryan are looking for a more-independent approach on the campaign trail. Asked if Ryan would welcome a visit from Biden or has solicited any Biden campaign stops, the congressman’s campaign wasn’t mincing words.
“We have not asked President Biden or anyone from the White House to campaign in Ohio and have no plans to do so… Tim has been very clear that he wants to be the face of this campaign, and that’s not changing anytime soon,” Ryan spokesperson Izzi Levy told The Daily Beast in a statement.
Or maybe it’s why Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), who’s running for re-election in a firmly Republican district, released an ad earlier this month touting his votes against “trillions of dollars of President Biden’s agenda because I knew it would make inflation worse.”
Or why some Democrats—not unlike other midterms—aren’t necessarily highlighting relationships with the president in their advertising, and framing themselves as independent thinkers and voices.
Biden, for his part, has acknowledged that he may not always be the best campaign surrogate for individual Democrats in individual districts, occasionally joking in stump speeches that “I’ll come campaign for you or against you—whichever will help the most.”
“The president always quotes his dad—don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative,” the Biden adviser said. “The alternative to congressional Democrats and President Biden’s agenda is congressional Republicans’ extreme MAGA proposals.”
The White House and its allies have pushed back on the notion that Biden is entirely unwelcome on the campaign trail by members of his own party.
One White House official pointed to a host of appearances at fundraisers and other events alongside incumbent Democrats running for reelection this cycle, including with Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), running in Virginia’s ultra-competitive 7th District, and a scheduled appearance with Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA), whose district represents a front line—perhaps the front line—for Democrats this cycle. Cartwright’s Scranton-based district, home to Biden’s birthplace, is the country’s second-most Republican congressional district to be represented by a Democrat—making native son Biden’s appearance potentially game-changing.
But just because Biden has made swings through competitive districts doesn’t necessarily guarantee that vulnerable Democrats will highlight the president and his policies. At an event in Cleveland highlighting the administration’s efforts to protect pension plans last month, Biden singled out Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) as an “incredible” member of Congress.
“God love you, Marcy—you are the best,” Biden said at the time, applauding Kaptur as a Democrat who “does it all.”
Just six weeks later, Kaptur dropped an advertisement accusing Biden of “letting Ohio solar manufacturers be undercut by China,” and bragging that she was “fighting back” by working with Republicans to “protect our jobs.”
“Marcy Kaptur: She doesn’t work for Joe Biden,” the narrator says. “She works for you.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Kaptur’s advertisement specifically, but a Biden adviser told The Daily Beast that the administration works with members in various lanes of the Democratic Party on issues that matter to their constituents—and noted that Biden’s stances on those issues are generally popular.
And there are still plenty of Democratic strongholds where the Biden brand is a draw for voters—and for cash. On Thursday night, Biden traveled to Montgomery County, Maryland, for a 100-person Democratic National Committee fundraiser to highlight a run of recent victories, from the sweeping CHIPs Act boosting domestic wireless technology development to the Inflation Reduction Act. The fundraiser was expected to raise more than $1 million for the DNC and the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, on top of $92 million raised so far this year, which a DNC official said was “in a large part to engagement from President Biden.”
Even Spanberger, who hosted Biden in her Virginia swing district to discuss prescription drug pricing and “Build Back Better” in February, has set limits on how much she’s willing to back the president. In interviews with various outlets, Spanberger has dodged the question of whether she would endorse Biden’s second run for the White House, telling Fox News and NPR that she is instead “focused on November ’22, and continuing to serve my constituents.”
But other Democrats are standing behind their Biden ties, though perhaps more prominently in heavily blue districts.
Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), for instance, is one of the few sitting Democrats this cycle to receive an endorsement from the president. Davis had been facing a competitive progressive primary challenger in his June primary—and says he believes having the president’s support impacted his victory.
Biden has endorsed three incumbent Democrats this cycle: Davis, Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR). Brown, like Davis, won her primary, while Schrader was defeated by a progressive challenger.
“I’ve been closely aligned with the president, it’s true. I actually sought his endorsement and received it and was glad to do so,” Davis told The Daily Beast in a phone interview.
But even Davis acknowledged that each member has to decide individually whether or not to coincide with the president—with consideration in mind for how voters in any given constituency will respond.
“Each member will make their individual decisions relative to [an] assessment of their district—and that’s going to determine how close or how distanced they are from the president based on what they think their district will respond to,” the congressman said.
The forecasts for whether Democrats will cozy up with Biden are also clouded by the president’s recent hot streak. While Biden had a blistering winter and spring, as far as policy wins go, he’s spent the last few weeks penning his name on the Inflation Reduction Act, a China-competitiveness bill, gun-control reforms and enacting massive student-debt cancellation.
“Even if I was an agnostic about the political climate and all, I’d have to say that Democrats have been on a pretty good roll… getting right down to the nitty gritty,” Davis said.
Jim Kessler, executive vice president at the moderate-Democratic think tank Third Way, also told The Daily Beast there’s only so many spots where Democratic candidates can reasonably drift from the president without straying from popular policy wins.
“For nearly all Democrats… the president’s record is pretty good. For some, there might be some selective places where you distance yourself from the president and the party,” Kessler said.
“But,” he added, “There’s not many.”
