In 12 days, President Joe Biden will turn 80, but he’s already keeping the schedule of a retiree.
Biden called a lid at 11:24 on Tuesday, a RealClearPolitics reporter said after speaking to a press pool.
In other words, the president went home before noon on the day of the midterm elections, declining to issue any press releases for the rest of the day.
Biden appears to be jumping ship ahead of a rocky landing for the down-ballot Democrats.
By calling an early lid, the unpopular President Biden is continuing his streak of avoiding public appearances with vulnerable Democrats.
During the midterm campaigns, Biden has largely stuck to Democrat strongholds like Maryland, and he’s apparently been sending Obama to campaign for swing-state Democrats.
Even before the midterm campaigns, the president had become known for his early lids. The Horn News reported last year on Biden’s decision to call a lid at 11:27 a.m. one day.
“We know in our bones that our democracy is at risk,” Biden said during an evening rally in Maryland, where Democrats have one of their best opportunities to reclaim a Republican-held governor’s seat. “I want you know, we’ll meet this moment.”
Arriving back at the White House a short time later, Biden was franker, saying: “I think we’ll win the Senate. I think the House is tougher.” Asked what the reality of governing will be like, he responded, ”More difficult.”
The White House calls a lid at 11:24 per pooler @shiramstein.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) November 8, 2022
The Maryland event followed Biden’s late-campaign strategy of sticking largely to his party’s strongholds rather than stumping in more competitive territory, where control of Congress may ultimately be decided. Biden won Maryland with more than 65% of the vote in 2020 and appeared with Wes Moore, the author and military veteran likely to become the state’s next governor.
The president said at an earlier virtual event, “Imagine what we can do in a second term if we maintain control.”
Most political prognosticators don’t think the Democrats will — and predict that Tuesday’s results will have a major impact on the next two years of Biden’s presidency, shaping policy on everything from government spending to military support for Ukraine.
In the first national election of the Biden presidency, the Democrats have tried to focus key races on fundamental questions about the nation’s political values, rather than questions about Biden’s leadership.
Democrats contend Republican victories could profoundly and adversely reshape the country, eliminating abortion rights nationwide and unleashing broad threats to the very future of American democracy. Republicans say the public is tired of Biden policies amid high inflation and concerns about crime.
The president was expected to watch Tuesday night’s returns from the White House, the Associated Press reported.
If the polls are even remotely accurate, he probably won’t be celebrating with an ice cream cone.
August 2021 flashback: Joe Biden quit Monday at 11:27 a.m.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.