WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Joe Biden's name wasn't on the ballot, but history will likely remember Kamala Harris' resounding defeat as his loss too.
As Democrats after President-elect decisive , some of the vice president's backers are expressing frustration that Biden's decision to seek reelection until this summer 鈥 despite long-standing voter concerns about his age and unease about post-pandemic inflation as well as the U.S.-Mexico border 鈥 all but sealed his party's surrender of the White House.
鈥淭he biggest onus of this loss is on President Biden,鈥 said Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination and endorsed Harris鈥 unsuccessful run. 鈥淚f he had stepped down in January instead of July, we may be in a very different place.鈥
Biden will leave office after leading the United States out of the worst pandemic in a century, galvanizing international support for Ukraine after and passing a that will affect communities for years to come.
But having run four years ago against Trump to 鈥渞estore the soul of the country,鈥 Biden will make way after just one term for his immediate predecessor, who overcame two impeachments, a felony conviction and an insurrection launched by his supporters. Trump has pledged to radically reshape the federal government and roll back many of Biden's priorities.
鈥淢aybe in 20 or 30 years, history will remember Biden for some of these achievements,鈥 said Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University. 鈥淏ut in the shorter term, I don鈥檛 know he escapes the legacy of being the president who beat Donald Trump only to usher in another Donald Trump administration four years later.鈥
The president on Wednesday stayed out of sight for the second straight day, making congratulatory calls to Democratic lawmakers who won downballot races and to Trump. Biden invited Trump for a White House meeting, and the president-elect accepted.
Biden is set to deliver a Rose Garden address Thursday about the election. He issued a statement shortly after Harris delivered her concession speech Wednesday, praising Harris for running an 鈥渉istoric campaign鈥 under 鈥渆xtraordinary circumstances.鈥
Some high-ranking Democrats, including three advisers to the Harris campaign, expressed deep frustration with Biden for failing to recognize earlier in the election cycle that he was not up to the challenge. The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign in July, weeks after an abysmal debate performance sent his party into a spiral and raised questions about whether he still had the mental acuity and stamina to serve as a credible nominee.
But polling long beforehand showed that . Some 77% of Americans said in August 2023 that Biden was too old to be effective for four more years, according to by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs.
The president after getting not-so-subtle nudges from Democratic Party powers, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. Biden and handed over his campaign operation to her.
Yang argued that Democratic Party leaders also deserve blame for taking too long to push out Biden. With few exceptions, most notably Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, Democrats shied away talking publicly about Biden's age.
鈥淲hy was this not coming from any Democratic leaders?" Yang said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lack of courage and independence and an excess of careerism, if I just keep my mouth shut, we鈥檒l just keep on trucking along.鈥
The campaign was also saddled by anger among some Arab American and young voters over its approach to Israel's conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an ally of Biden and Harris, said in a statement that Democrats lost the thread on working class Americans' concerns.
鈥淲ill the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?鈥 the Vermont independent said. 鈥淲ill they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing?鈥
Democratic 好色tv Committee Chair Jaime Harrison took to social media Thursday to push back on Sanders' critique, saying that Biden was 鈥渢he most-pro worker President of my life time.鈥
Harris managed to spur far greater enthusiasm than Biden was generating from the party's base. But she struggled to distinguish how her administration would differ from Biden's.
Appearing on ABC鈥檚 鈥淭he View鈥 in September, Harris a decision where she would have separated herself from Biden. 鈥淭here is not a thing that comes to mind,鈥 Harris said, giving the Trump campaign a sound bite it replayed through Election Day.
The strategists advising the Harris campaign said the compressed campaign timetable made it even more difficult for Harris to differentiate herself from the president.
Had Biden stepped aside early in the year, they said, it would have given Democrats enough time to hold a primary. Going through the paces of an intraparty contest would have forced Harris or another eventual nominee to more aggressively stake out differences with Biden.
The strategists acknowledged that overcoming broad dissatisfaction among the American electorate about rising costs in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and broad concerns about the U.S. immigration system weighed heavy on the minds of voters in key states.
Still, they said that Biden had left Democrats in an untenable place.
Harris senior adviser David Plouffe in called it a 鈥渄evastating loss.鈥 Plouffe did not assign blame and said the Harris campaign 鈥渄ug out of a deep hole but not enough.鈥 The post was later deleted.
At the vice president's on Wednesday, some Harris supporters said they wished the vice president had had more time to make her pitch to American voters.
鈥淚 think that would have made a huge difference," said Jerushatalla Pallay, a Howard University student who attended the speech at the center of her campus.
Republicans are poised to control the White House and Senate. Control of the House has yet to be determined.
Matt Bennett, executive vice president at the Democratic-aligned group Third Way, said this moment was the most devastating the party has faced in his lifetime.
"Harris was dealt a really bad hand. Some of it was Biden鈥檚 making and some maybe not," said Bennett, who served as an aide to Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. 鈥淲ould Democrats fare better if Biden had stepped back earlier? I don't know if we can say for certain, but it's a question we'll be asking ourselves for some time.鈥
___
Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.
