President Biden will not attend Vice President Kamala Harris’ election-night party, the latest sign that her campaign is distancing itself from the unpopular president.
“Tonight, the president and first lady will watch election results in the White House residence with longtime aides and senior White House staff,” a White House official told The Washington Times. “The president will receive regular updates on the state of races across the country.”
Ms. Harris is hosting a watch party at Howard University, which is less than two miles from the White House.
The Harris campaign has largely sidelined the president during the final weeks of the presidential campaign. He did not attend Ms. Harris’ “closing argument” speech last week at the Ellipse in Washington, which sits directly across from the White House South Lawn.
He later overshadowed the event by referring to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage” on a conference call with Latino voters.
Mr. Biden said in September that he would hit the road regularly campaigning for Ms. Harris, but as the race comes to a close, that mostly hasn’t happened.
He appeared at one campaign event with Ms. Harris over Labor Day weekend. At one point, Mr. Biden suggested he would be doing a tour of Pennsylvania alongside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to boost Ms. Harris. That never materialized.
Over the weekend, Mr. Biden did a solo campaign event for Ms. Harris in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was again overshadowed by his comments when he blasted macho Trump supporters as guys he’d “like to smack in the ass.”
Mr. Biden’s approval ratings have not improved since he dropped out of the presidential race in July. For most of Mr. Biden’s presidency, his approval rating has been just below 40%. Currently, 54% of Americans disapprove of his job performance, according to FiveThirtyEight.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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