Mabinty Quarshie and David Sivak write for the Washington Examiner about Democrats’ electoral plans for the U.S. Senate.
Senate Democrats are brushing off concerns that President Joe Biden will be a drag on the ticket in November even as the party’s most vulnerable incumbents distance themselves from the president.
Biden’s low approval numbers, driven in part by his age and handling of the economy, have set off alarm bells from party operatives warning that former President Donald Trump could win if the president remains on the Democratic ticket. But those fears have implications down ballot, too, as the party attempts to keep its tenuous control of the Senate.
Ordinarily, the party in the White House hopes to benefit from the coattails of their incumbent president. Yet this cycle, they are facing the prospect of having to outperform Biden as polls show him consistently behind in nearly every swing state.
Senate Democrats have generally avoided speculating on whether Biden will drag down vulnerable incumbents, instead framing control of the Senate as a matter of candidate quality.
“We have superior incumbents and candidates running against highly, highly flawed Republican candidates,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said. “So, I’m confident we’re going to win.”
Others disputed the idea that Biden is a weak candidate altogether in conversations with the Washington Examiner.
“Every special election and the midterm elections, polling has predicted disaster for Democrats. And the results have ended up being far better than polling would have suggested,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a key Biden ally on the Hill, said.
In this cycle, Senate candidates appear to be running ahead of Biden in key states. In Nevada, for example, where Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is up for reelection, she is tied with her expected Republican rival in the latest New York Times-Siena poll even as Trump leads Biden there by 13 points.
