Obama steps in, Biden sidelined in high-stakes Democratic campaigns

Abigail Spanberger, as a Democratic congresswoman less than two years ago, delivered votes for President Biden’s agenda on issues such as spending, gun control and immigration.

Now, with Ms. Spanberger running for governor in Virginia, one of the country’s marquee political races this year, Mr. Biden is conspicuously absent. He hasn’t campaigned with her, and she isn’t going out of her way to talk about him either.

Mr. Biden also hasn’t appeared in the governor’s race in New Jersey or the race for mayor in New York City.

Instead, Democrats are relying on former President Barack Obama to gin up enthusiasm among voters.

Longtime party operatives say that’s just good politics.

“Obviously, Biden’s a liability right now,” said Paul Goldman, former chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia. “I think a lot of Democrats blame him for electing Trump.”

He paused and then added bluntly, “He did elect Trump.”

The races this year are widely seen as a bellwether for congressional elections next year, when Democrats will have to determine their approach to the president as they face voters nationwide.

Mark Rozell, a political science professor at George Mason University, said midterm candidates are likely watching to see how Ms. Spanberger fares.

“Should she succeed in this race, other Democrats may take the lesson for next year not to openly embrace the Biden record,” Mr. Rozell said.

Keeping the faith?

Mr. Biden left office on Jan. 20, but he had been on political life support since his June 2024 presidential debate debacle in Atlanta. He abandoned his reelection bid soon afterward.

His former administration officials are still fending off allegations that they hid his cognitive decline and essentially made him their puppet by wielding his autopen.

Mr. Biden, 82, recently made his first public appearance since undergoing radiation treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He accepted a lifetime achievement award in Boston, which has no campaign this year, and delivered a somber message of “dark days” under President Trump. He urged attendees to “keep the faith” and remain engaged in the political fight.

Meanwhile, Republicans have cast Ms. Spanberger as a rubber stamp for the Biden agenda and complicit in covering up his mental decline.

The latter charge is central to a House Republican report released this week that shows Mr. Biden’s inner circle tried to conceal the “rapid cognitive and physical deterioration” that was clear to the public as he continued to lead the world’s most powerful nation while seeking a second four-year term.

It’s a marked difference from 2017, when Mr. Obama had just left the White House and campaigned for Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey.

He is back this year and plans to participate in rallies this weekend in both states.

Also missing from the Virginia campaign scene is former Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Mr. Biden as the Democratic nominee last year and has earned her share of blame for the election loss.

“She lost the election, Trump didn’t win it,” said former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first Black governor. 

On Mr. Biden, Mr. Wilder said: “They are saying now he is ill, he has got cancer, and I am not in a position to determine the effects of it to the extent of travel or anything else.

“That is an excuse I guess that some could use, but I don’t know that Biden is particularly effective at this stage, whether he is sick or not,” Mr. Wilder said. “I can speak to that being 94 years old, and I don’t think people want to see too much of that in terms of him getting around.”

Mr. Biden won Virginia by 10 percentage points in the 2020 election. Ms. Harris carried the state by about 6 points last year.

The Biden legacy

The Biden tarnish isn’t universal. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has dipped into the campaign by headlining a rally with Ms. Spanberger.

Other major party figures, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, also have been mentioned. Meanwhile, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were featured in Spanberger campaign emails to supporters.

Former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headlined a Democratic fundraiser hosted by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Northern Virginia.

Yet Mr. Obama remains the dominant figure.

“The Obama brand remains solid with the Democratic faithful and many independent voters. Biden’s is somewhat shattered by the blame-casting for Trump going back to the White House,” Mr. Rozell said. “Spanberger sees the political benefit from an Obama visit to Virginia, whereas the Biden legacy is just too mixed to give any political benefit to her.”

Mr. Goldman said the odds are that Mr. Biden’s image in the eyes of Democratic voters, much like presidents before him, will change eventually.

“But right now, how mad Democrats are at Trump, you bring Biden, you are just going to stir those old wounds,” said the former Virginia Democratic Party chairman. “That is why he hasn’t said a word. He knows it. He knows he messed up.”