Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) won’t campaign with President Joe Biden when he visits Wisconsin on Friday, the latest example of vulnerable Democratic candidates distancing themselves from the president.
Baldwin, who is facing a competitive Senate race in the fall, “will NOT be with Biden while he’s in state on Friday,” reported Axios‘s Stephen Neukam on Tuesday.
“Instead, she will be at her ‘Fired up for Tammy Tour’ across the state,” Neukam reported.
Biden is scheduled to campaign in Madison, Wis., the city where Baldwin lives. Baldwin’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Free Beacon.
The news comes as Democrats have distanced themselves from Biden, with some calling on him to step down from the presidential race following his stumbling debate performance last week and lagging poll numbers.
Democratic senators Jon Tester (Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio), both facing tough reelection battles, have both conspicuously avoided media questions about whether Biden should drop out, the Free Beacon reported on Tuesday.
Other Democrats have started publicly calling for Biden to step aside. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (Texas) on Tuesday said Biden should follow the example of former president Lyndon Johnson who declined to run for reelection in 1968.
Following the debate last week, Baldwin’s campaign spokesman said the senator still “supports the president” but stressed that she is “running her own race for the people of Wisconsin.”
Baldwin’s Republican opponent, businessman Eric Hovde, called the senator’s attempt to avoid Biden a “desperate” move.
“In less than a month, Sen. Baldwin has gone from saying she is ‘proud’ to vote with President Biden 95.5% of the time to dodging the President in her hometown,” said Hovde’s spokesman Zach Bannon. “It is a desperate and selfish move from a 38-year politician that prioritizes her political career over the concerns of Wisconsinites.”
The Wisconsin Senate race is one of the most competitive in the country and could decide party control of the upper chamber next year.
