Democratic Senate Candidates Attend Harris Event After Snubbing Biden
Tammy Baldwin and Elissa Slotkin were absent during the president's visits to their states in July. However, they both showed up alongside Harris and her running mate on Wednesday.
TroibNews 
Senate Democrats facing tough reelection contests in battleground states were noticeably absent from Joe Biden’s July campaign events as the president's political prospects declined.
Kamala Harris is bringing them back.
Sen. Bob Casey participated in Tuesday’s debut rally in Philadelphia for the Harris-Tim Walz ticket to highlight the vice president’s experience as a prosecutor who “[put] away dangerous criminals.” Sen. Tammy Baldwin declared Harris and Walz “a new beginning for our party and our country” at their rally earlier Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, running for an open Senate seat in Michigan, sharply criticized former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, in suburban Detroit later that evening.
“The other side of the aisle is going to claim that they care about the middle class. They're going to claim that they care about your jobs. What they want is your vote. They do not give a living crap about you,” said Slotkin, who secured the party’s nomination on Tuesday to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. “So in those two contrasting visions, we know which one we pick.”
The return of Senate hopefuls to presidential campaign rallies highlights how much the race has shifted in the last month — and just how much Democrats viewed Biden as a liability for their own campaigns. Recent polls indicate that Harris is regaining the support Biden had lost among younger voters and voters of color and has closed the significant gap that Trump had over Biden.
A Marquette Law School poll released earlier Wednesday showed Harris (50 percent) and Trump (49 percent) in a tight race, while Baldwin led her likely Republican opponent, businessperson Eric Hovde, 52 percent to 47 percent.
This shift comes as the Harris campaign explores various strategies for a November victory, continuing Biden’s efforts to maintain the Blue Wall of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — all of which have competitive Senate races — while also targeting the younger and more diverse Sun Belt, where Democrats are defending seats in Arizona and Nevada.
While Casey stood by Biden despite his faltering reelection prospects following June’s disastrous debate, joining other members of the state’s congressional delegation in welcoming Biden at the Philadelphia airport and attending church with him during a July trip, most Democrats took a different route.
When Biden visited Madison last month, Baldwin continued with previously scheduled campaign events in northern Wisconsin, and Slotkin skipped Biden’s last visit to Detroit in mid-July.
Sen. Jacky Rosen plans to join Harris at her Las Vegas rally on Saturday, according to The Nevada Independent. It is uncertain whether Rep. Ruben Gallego, who recently won the nomination for the seat currently held by retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, will attend the campaign’s Friday rally in Phoenix. Gallego’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment earlier Wednesday.
Even if Harris triumphs in November, Democrats face a difficult battle to retain control of the Senate. Republicans are highly likely to win retiring independent Sen. Joe Manchin’s seat in West Virginia and would only need one more pick-up to flip the chamber. While swing-state Democrats are aligning with Harris and Walz, the party also needs Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana to succeed in November in red states the vice president is less likely to visit.
Trump, meanwhile, is scheduled to campaign for Tester’s Republican opponent, Tim Sheehy, in Montana on Friday.
Lucas Dupont contributed to this report for TROIB News
Kamala Harris is bringing them back.
Sen. Bob Casey participated in Tuesday’s debut rally in Philadelphia for the Harris-Tim Walz ticket to highlight the vice president’s experience as a prosecutor who “[put] away dangerous criminals.” Sen. Tammy Baldwin declared Harris and Walz “a new beginning for our party and our country” at their rally earlier Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, running for an open Senate seat in Michigan, sharply criticized former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, in suburban Detroit later that evening.
“The other side of the aisle is going to claim that they care about the middle class. They're going to claim that they care about your jobs. What they want is your vote. They do not give a living crap about you,” said Slotkin, who secured the party’s nomination on Tuesday to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. “So in those two contrasting visions, we know which one we pick.”
The return of Senate hopefuls to presidential campaign rallies highlights how much the race has shifted in the last month — and just how much Democrats viewed Biden as a liability for their own campaigns. Recent polls indicate that Harris is regaining the support Biden had lost among younger voters and voters of color and has closed the significant gap that Trump had over Biden.
A Marquette Law School poll released earlier Wednesday showed Harris (50 percent) and Trump (49 percent) in a tight race, while Baldwin led her likely Republican opponent, businessperson Eric Hovde, 52 percent to 47 percent.
This shift comes as the Harris campaign explores various strategies for a November victory, continuing Biden’s efforts to maintain the Blue Wall of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — all of which have competitive Senate races — while also targeting the younger and more diverse Sun Belt, where Democrats are defending seats in Arizona and Nevada.
While Casey stood by Biden despite his faltering reelection prospects following June’s disastrous debate, joining other members of the state’s congressional delegation in welcoming Biden at the Philadelphia airport and attending church with him during a July trip, most Democrats took a different route.
When Biden visited Madison last month, Baldwin continued with previously scheduled campaign events in northern Wisconsin, and Slotkin skipped Biden’s last visit to Detroit in mid-July.
Sen. Jacky Rosen plans to join Harris at her Las Vegas rally on Saturday, according to The Nevada Independent. It is uncertain whether Rep. Ruben Gallego, who recently won the nomination for the seat currently held by retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, will attend the campaign’s Friday rally in Phoenix. Gallego’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment earlier Wednesday.
Even if Harris triumphs in November, Democrats face a difficult battle to retain control of the Senate. Republicans are highly likely to win retiring independent Sen. Joe Manchin’s seat in West Virginia and would only need one more pick-up to flip the chamber. While swing-state Democrats are aligning with Harris and Walz, the party also needs Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana to succeed in November in red states the vice president is less likely to visit.
Trump, meanwhile, is scheduled to campaign for Tester’s Republican opponent, Tim Sheehy, in Montana on Friday.
Lucas Dupont contributed to this report for TROIB News
