Politics

By Julie Steenhuysen

(Reuters) -Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official who became the face of America’s COVID-19 pandemic response under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, announced on Monday he is stepping down in December after 54 years of public service.

Fauci, whose efforts to fight the pandemic were applauded by many public health experts even as he was vilified by Trump and many Republicans, will leave his posts https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/statement-anthony-s-fauci-md as chief medical adviser to Biden and director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fauci, 81, has headed NIAID since 1984.

The veteran immunologist has served as an adviser to seven U.S. presidents beginning with Republican Ronald Reagan, focusing on newly emerging and re-emerging infectious disease dangers including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika, monkeypox and COVID-19.

Fauci endured criticism from Trump and various conservatives and even death threats against him and his family from people who objected to safeguards such as vaccination, social distancing and masking that he advocated to try to limit the lethality of the COVID-19 pandemic. After defeating Trump in the 2020 election, Biden made Fauci his chief medical adviser.

“I definitely feel it was worth staying as long as I have. It is unfortunate, but it is a fact of life that we are living in a very, very divisive society right now,” Fauci told Reuters on Monday.

Fauci said he never considered resigning due to the threats against him.

“I don’t like the idea that I have to have armed federal agents with me. That’s not a happy feeling. It’s reality. And you’ve got to deal with reality,” Fauci said.

Republican lawmakers including fierce critic Rand Paul, with whom Fauci tangled during Senate hearings, vowed on Monday to investigate him if they gain control of either the House of Representatives or Senate in November’s congressional elections.

“As he leaves his position in the U.S. Government, I know the American people and the entire world will continue to benefit from Dr. Fauci’s expertise in whatever he does next,” Biden said in a statement. “The United States of America is stronger, more resilient and healthier because of him.”

Fauci signaled his impending departure last month, telling Reuters he would retire by the end of Biden’s first term, which runs to January 2025, and possibly earlier.

The United States leads the world in recorded COVID-19 deaths with more than one million https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home. In the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Fauci helped lead scientific efforts to develop and test COVID-19 vaccines in record time and took part in regular televised White House briefings alongside Trump.

Fauci became a popular and trusted figure among many Americans as the United States faced lockdowns and rising numbers of COVID-19 deaths, even inspiring the sale of cookies and bobblehead dolls featuring his likeness.

However, Fauci drew the ire of Trump and many Republicans for cautioning against reopening the U.S. economy too quickly and risking increased infections and for opposing the use of unproven treatments such as the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.

‘A DISASTER’

Democrats accused Trump of presiding over a disjointed response to the pandemic and of disregarding advice from public health experts including Fauci. Trump in October 2020, weeks before his re-election loss, called Fauci “a disaster” and complained that Americans were tired of hearing about the pandemic. Trump even made fun of Fauci’s off-target ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

Fauci sometimes publicly contradicted Trump’s statements about the pandemic. Fauci said on Monday that while he respects the office of the presidency, he felt he had to speak out “when things were said that were outright untrue and quite misleading.”

“I didn’t take any great pleasure in that,” Fauci said.

Paul frequently attacked Fauci during Senate hearings on the pandemic.

Fauci has accused Paul of spreading misinformation. Paul on his website has accused Fauci of “lying about everything from masks to the contagiousness of the virus.” Fauci during one hearing noted that Paul placed fundraising appeals on his website next to a call to have him fired.

Fauci said staying on until December allows for a search for a new director of NIAID, an institute with an annual budget exceeding $6 billion, and the appointment of an acting chief. Fauci also said he wanted to remain to help address an expected autumn upswing in COVID-19 infections.

Fauci made clear that while he will be leaving government service, he will not be retiring. He said in the future he hopes to use his expertise to help inspire a new generation of doctors to pursue careers in public health, medicine and science.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Sriraj Kalluvila)

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By David Morgan

(Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Monday gave his own party a 50-50 chance of taking control of the Senate in the November midterm elections, and predicted that the chamber will remain closely divided whatever the outcome.

Speaking at a business luncheon in Georgetown, Kentucky, McConnell also said the U.S. Congress would find ways to work with Democratic President Joe Biden, if Republicans manage to capture both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The remarks came a week after he suggested that Republicans could stand a better chance of gaining a majority in the House than in the Senate, citing candidate quality as a reason for tempered expectations.

“Flipping the Senate, what are the chances? It’s a 50-50 proposition. We’ve got a 50-50 Senate right now. We’ve got a 50-50 nation. And I think the outcome is likely to be very, very close either way,” McConnell told the Scott County Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

“If both the House and the Senate flip, I think the president will be a moderate. He won’t have any choice. And so, we’ll try to find ways to make some progress for the country during the last two years of his term … but not big dramatic change.”

At a time when polls show that most Republicans believe former President Donald Trump’s falsehoods about a stolen 2020 election, McConnell urged his audience not to be concerned about election fraud.

“Election fraud, there is some,” McConnell said. “It happens occasionally. But our democracy is solid. And of the things we need to worry about, I wouldn’t be worried about that one.”

Republicans entered the 2022 campaign hopeful of capturing both chambers of Congress, with Democrats under pressure from inflation, Biden’s anemic job approval numbers and historical political trends.

While the party is still favored to win a majority in the House, its prospects for flipping the Senate have been dimmed by lackluster performances among first-time Republican candidates in key swing states including Arizona, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

(Reporting by David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

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By Tyler Clifford

(Reuters) -A jury in Michigan began deliberations on Monday in the retrial of two men accused by the prosecution of devising an elaborate plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, though the defense claimed they were engaged merely in idle chatter.

Adam Fox, 39, and Barry Croft Jr., 46, face the possibility of life in prison if convicted of kidnapping and weapons conspiracy charges in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

A mistrial was declared in their first trial in April, while two other defendants were found not guilty in one of the most prominent cases in years involving domestic terrorism charges and militias.

In the retrial, prosecutors again used testimony from FBI informants and two key witnesses who pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy charges.

The alleged plot by Croft and Fox was aimed at forcing an end to the Democratic governor’s mandates in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and pushing the country into conflict as a contentious presidential election approached in November 2020, according to prosecutors.

Fox compiled a list of tools, including handcuffs and a hood to cover Whitmer’s head, for the alleged plot. Additionally, a makeshift house was built to simulate breaking in to the governor’s vacation home in northern Michigan and abducting her, prosecutors said, according to the Detroit News.

“They wanted to set off a second American Civil War and a second American Revolution,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler told jurors during closing arguments on Monday.

“They didn’t want to just kidnap her,” Kessler said, referring to Whitmer. “They wanted to execute her.”

In their closing arguments, attorneys for Croft and Fox told jurors that the prosecution failed to tell the full story and presented an entrapment defense. They said their clients committed no crimes and criticized the use of FBI informants in the case, the Detroit News reported.

“The FBI should not exist to make people look like terrorists when they aren’t,” Joshua Blanchard, an attorney for Croft, told jurors.

Croft is also charged with possession of an explosive device, which prosecutors say the alleged conspirators planned to use during the plot.

The two are among 13 men who were arrested in October 2020 and charged with state or federal crimes in the alleged kidnapping conspiracy. Seven of them are facing charges in state court.

(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New YorkEditing by Matthew Lewis)

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(Reuters) -Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, will step down in December after more than 50 years of government service.

Fauci, 81, has been the NIAID director since 1984, and in 2020 became the face of the U.S. government’s efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While I am moving on from my current positions, I am not retiring,” Fauci said on Monday. “After more than 50 years of government service, I plan to pursue the next phase of my career while I still have so much energy and passion for my field.”

Fauci has served under seven U.S. Presidents, beginning with Ronald Reagan, on newly emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats including HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Zika.

Last month, the infectious disease expert told Reuters that he planned to retire by the end of Biden’s first term, but it could come much earlier than that.

“As he leaves his position in the U.S. Government, I know the American people and the entire world will continue to benefit from Dr. Fauci’s expertise in whatever he does next,” Biden said in a statement.

“The United States of America is stronger, more resilient, and healthier because of him.”

Fauci will also step down as chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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(Reuters) – A jury in Michigan began deliberations on Monday in the retrial of two men accused by the prosecution of devising an elaborate plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, though the defense claimed they were engaged merely in idle chatter.

Adam Fox, 39, and Barry Croft Jr., 46, face the possibility of life in prison if convicted of kidnapping and weapons conspiracy charges in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

A mistrial was declared in their first trial in April, while two other defendants were found not guilty in one of the most prominent cases in years involving domestic terrorism charges and militias.

Croft is also charged with possession of an explosive device, which prosecutors say the alleged conspirators planned to use during the plot.

The two are among 13 men who were arrested in October 2020 and charged with state or federal crimes in the alleged kidnapping conspiracy. Seven of them are facing charges in state court.

(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An appeals court put on hold U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham’s scheduled testimony for Tuesday before a grand jury in Georgia probing efforts by Donald Trump to overturn the former president’s 2020 election defeat, with the case returning to a lower court for another look.

A federal judge on Monday had rejected Graham’s challenge to the subpoena to testify before the grand jury. Graham, a Republican, had argued his position as a U.S. senator provided him immunity from having to appear before the investigative panel.

Sunday’s order by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes as a temporary reprieve for Graham who otherwise would have had to testify on Tuesday.

Testimony from Graham, a close ally of Trump, could shed further light on the coordinated effort by Trump’s team to reverse the 2020 results.

The appeals court gave Graham a new chance to challenge the subpoena based on protections for lawmakers under the U.S. Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause. That provision can protect lawmakers from being compelled to discuss legislative activity.

“The district court shall expedite the parties’ briefing in a manner that it deems appropriate,” Sunday’s order said.

The grand jury wants to question Graham about at least two phone calls he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks following the November 2020 presidential election, in which Graham explored the possibility of re-examining absentee ballots, according to prosecutors.

The Georgia probe is one among several legal troubles faced by the former president, whose Florida home was searched by federal agents this month and whose role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol is being investigated separately by a congressional panel.

Trump has falsely claimed that rampant voter fraud caused his loss in Georgia, a battleground state where President Joe Biden’s victory helped propel him to the White House.

The special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, is undertaking a criminal investigation into alleged wrongdoing. Trump was recorded in a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call pressuring a top state official to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss to Biden in the state. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The grand jury had also subpoenaed members of Trump’s former legal team. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s onetime personal lawyer, testified before the special grand jury in Atlanta on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Mike Scarcella, Mary Milliken and Lisa Shumaker)

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By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Representative Liz Cheney vowed on Sunday to oppose Republican candidates who back former President Donald Trump’s falsehoods about a stolen 2020 election and declared Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley “unfit” for office after they voted to overturn the presidential results.

Cheney, who is Trump’s leading critic and vice chair of the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, told ABC’s “This Week” that a broad movement of election denial could undermine the U.S. constitutional order if left unchecked.

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has already said she will spend the next two years trying to stop Trump from returning to the White House in 2024, possibly with her own presidential bid.

She declined to tell ABC whether she would run inside or outside the Republican Party, should she decide to make a presidential bid.

“I’m going to be very focused on working to ensure that we do everything we can not to elect election deniers,” Cheney said in an interview recorded last week, days after she lost her Republican primary race in Wyoming to a Trump-backed candidate.

“We’ve got election deniers that have been nominated for really important positions all across the country. And I’m going to work against those people. I’m going to work to support their opponents.”

Cheney did not say which Republican candidates she would oppose but acknowledged they would include some of her fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Republicans are favored to take control of the House but could face a bigger challenge capturing a Senate majority in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, which will determine the balance of power in Congress for the next two years.

As one of two Republicans on the House Jan. 6 committee, Cheney has been able to draw a direct connection between the deadly melee and Trump’s repeated false claims that he won the 2020 election against President Joe Biden.

“Donald Trump is certainly the center of the threat,” Cheney said. “What he’s created is a movement on some level that is post-truth.”

The Jan. 6 assault forced Congress to temporarily suspend its certification of Trump’s loss to Biden, during which Hawley, Cruz and other Republican members of Congress voted against certification of election results.

Cheney said the actions of Hawley, Cruz and other Republican lawmakers “fundamentally threatened the constitutional order and structure” and concluded that “they both have made themselves unfit for future office.”

A Cruz spokesperson responded with a statement saying the senator does not want or need Cheney’s endorsement. A spokesperson for Hawley said: “We wish her the best.”

Neither Cruz nor Hawley is up for re-election in November.

Cheney also criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for campaigning on behalf of election deniers including Republican gubernatorial candidates Kari Lake of Arizona and Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania.

“That is something that I think people have got to have real pause about. You know, either you fundamentally believe in and will support our constitutional structure, or you don’t,” Cheney said.

Like Trump himself, DeSantis has flirted with voters about the possibility of his own 2024 presidential run, while he seeks re-election in Florida this year. The DeSantis campaign was not immediately available for comment.

Cheney’s re-election loss in Wyoming last week was widely seen as a victory for Trump’s revenge campaign against House Republicans who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6 riot.

She told ABC she heard from Biden afterwards: “We had a very good talk, a talk about the importance of putting the country ahead of partisanship.”

(Reporting by David Morgan;Editing by Mary Milliken, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast.)

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OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed with a partial hand recount, with fewer than 100 votes changing after the last county reported results Sunday.

Nine of the state’s 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa Leavitt, who has pushed for tighter election laws. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Mark Gietzen, is covering most of the costs. Gietzen acknowledged in an interview that it was unlikely to change the outcome.

A no vote in the referendum signaled a desire to keep existing abortion protections and a yes vote was for allowing the Legislature to tighten restrictions or ban abortion. After the recounts, “no” votes lost 87 votes and “yes” gained 6 votes.

Eight of the counties reported their results by the state’s Saturday deadline, but Sedgwick County delayed releasing its final count until Sunday because spokeswoman Nicole Gibbs said some of the ballots weren’t separated into the correct precincts during the initial recount and had to be resorted Saturday. She said the number of votes cast overall didn’t change.

A larger than expected turnout of voters on Aug. 2 rejected a ballot measure that would have removed protections for abortion rights from the Kansas Constitution and given to the Legislature the right to further restrict or ban abortion. It failed by 18 percentage points, or 165,000 votes statewide.

The vote drew broad attention because it was the first state referendum on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

Gietzen, of Wichita, and Leavitt, of Colby, in far northwestern Kansas, have both suggested there might have been problems without pointing to many examples.

Recounts increasingly are tools to encourage supporters of a candidate or cause to believe an election was stolen rather than lost. A wave of candidates who have echoed former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was rigged have called for recounts after losing their own Republican primaries.

Kansas law requires a recount if those who ask for it prove they can cover the counties’ costs. The counties pay only if the outcome changes.

Leavitt and Gietzen provided credit cards to pay for the nearly $120,000 cost, according to the secretary of state’s office. Leavitt has an online fundraising page. Gietzen also said he is getting donations from a network built over three decades in the anti-abortion movement.

Gietzen said Sunday he doesn’t accept the results of the Sedgwick County recount because of the discrepancy about the way the ballots were sorted and because some of the recount happened Saturday without outside observers present to watch.

“We still don’t know what happened in Sedgwick County. I won’t pay for Sedgwick County,” he said.

He said he’s also concerned about the results statewide because of a report out of Cherokee county in southeast Kansas about the results of one county election being transposed between two candidates when the results were transferred on a thumb drive from one voting machine to a tabulating machine.

Gietzen said he plans to file a lawsuit Monday seeking a full statewide recall.

Gietzen said he won’t publicly report the names of private donors helping him finance the recount, even though a state ethics official says it’s required. Gietzen, who leads a small GOP group, the Kansas Republican Assembly, argues that he’s not campaigning for the anti-abortion measure but is instead promoting election integrity.

Votes were recounted in Douglas County, home to the University of Kansas’ main campus; Johnson County, in suburban Kansas City; Sedgwick County, home to Wichita, Shawnee County, home to Topeka; and Crawford, Harvey, Jefferson, Lyon and Thomas counties. Abortion opponents lost all of those counties except Thomas.

In Jefferson County, the margin remained the same, with the pro- and anti-amendment totals declining by four votes each. Linda Buttron, the county clerk, blamed the change on things like ovals not being darkened and “the challenges of hand counting ballots.”

In Lyon County, the anti-amendment group lost a vote. County Clerk and Election Officer Tammy Vopat said she wasn’t sure the reason. But she noted: “You have to factor in human error.”

Johnson County, the most populous in Kansas, faced the biggest recounting challenge because it had the most ballots. It pulled in workers from different departments to help. The sorting process took so long that the actual counting didn’t begin until Thursday afternoon.

“This is almost like doing an Ironman triathlon and having to add on another marathon at the end,” said Fred Sherman, the county’s Election Commissioner. “So it is quite a gargantuan process.”

___

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Josh Funk contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.

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By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt

(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden launches a coast-to-coast tour this week to tout the new climate and tax bill and boost Democrats running in November’s elections. But when he arrives, some of those candidates may be nowhere in sight, fearing Biden is too much of a liability.

Democrats hope the trip will boost the president’s poor poll numbers and draw attention to his achievements. But some candidates for Congress worry that campaigning with Biden will hurt them in the Nov. 8 election, according to more than a dozen interviews with senior Democrats and local campaign officials in battleground states including Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Biden, whose latest approval rating is 40%, is polling lower than most, if not all, Democratic candidates in competitive races, often by double digits, Democratic pollsters said.

The trip, the latest effort to reset his presidency, will test the limits of Biden’s influence in a party that has shown flashes of disloyalty in recent weeks. Some Democratic members of Congress have questioned whether Biden, at 79 already the oldest U.S. president, should run for reelection in 2024.

As they consider campaigning with him, Democratic candidates will closely watch whether Biden can move public opinion on his tour. On the plus side, Biden can share good news about recent legislative victories on climate change, gun control and boosting domestic microprocessor production along with a Kansas victory on abortion rights.

“Sure it was a great month, but the jury is still out whether it actually made a difference or whether it’s just too late,” said one senior Democrat.

Meanwhile, opposition Republicans have unified around attacking Biden despite the party’s internal divisions over former President Donald Trump and the fatal Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Right-wing media, elected officials and Trump have hammered a message that the White House has struggled to combat: Biden and his policies are responsible for record inflation, and he’s old, doddering and confused.

While Biden’s defenders note that inflation is higher in some other countries and say he is undiminished, some candidates worry they may face awkward questions at events about whether they support the president’s reelection. Their answers could serve as fodder for Republican rivals, sources said.

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Tim Ryan is running a populist campaign in Ohio against Trump-backed Republican J.D. Vance. The state has shifted hard to Republicans in recent elections, but polls show the race is a toss-up.

In July, Ryan, who currently holds a seat in the U.S. House, cited scheduling conflicts for skipping a Biden economic speech in Cleveland and has dodged questions about whether Biden should run again. Ryan would only consider appearing with Biden under limited circumstances, an official with the campaign effort told Reuters.

The official, for example, noted that Biden is expected to return to Ohio in coming weeks for the groundbreaking of an Intel plant that will eventually provide 3,000 jobs and get a big boost from the recently passed CHIPS Act, which aids the semiconductor industry.

“That is something Tim Ryan would likely attend with Biden. The messaging and politics are aligned,” the official said.

Ryan campaign spokesperson Izzi Levy said she could not comment on his plans related to his congressional work. But regarding political events with Biden, she said, “We have not asked him to campaign in Ohio and have no plans to do so.”

RISING TIDE

The Nov. 8 elections will determine whether Democrats retain their slim majorities in the House and Senate, or Republicans gain control. There are 43 competitive House races and seven Senate races, according to a Reuters analysis of data from three nonpartisan research groups on the competitiveness of U.S. elections. The White House thinks it can make gains in the Senate despite expected losses in the House.

Biden will speak at a Democratic National Committee event in Maryland on Thursday, his first political rally in months. It will serve as the kickoff to his midterm push. Democrats at the top of the ticket in Maryland are largely running against Trump-aligned opponents who face an uphill battle in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one.

Democrats in competitive races across the country say they are eager to see Biden hit the road and combat Republican attacks by boasting about a string of legislative achievements that include historic bipartisan bills on gun control and infrastructure along with more partisan achievements on climate change and health care. Officials frequently use the adage that a rising tide lifts all boats.

“If Biden can lift his poll numbers, it helps all Democrats,” a Democratic pollster involved in Pennsylvania races said.

In Pennsylvania, campaign officials say a Biden visit is unnecessary – and potentially risky – because Democrats have early leads over Republican candidates viewed as flawed. Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is a Trump-backed election-denier who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington while Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz is struggling in early polls amid questions about his ties to the state.

“We hope the president comes to the state, but we are not sure how much the Democratic candidates will be joining him. At this point, it doesn’t make much sense,” said one senior Democratic official involved in the governor’s race.

Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, has appeared with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris separately this year. Manuel Bonder, a campaign spokesman, said Shapiro “will continue welcoming President Biden to his home state.”

Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist, called the decision by some Democrats to distance themselves from Biden a “colossal mistake.”

“This has been a monumentally consequential administration. Voters don’t care about the politics of the moment, they care about results and this administration has delivered,” Holdsworth said.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Heather Timmons and Cynthia Osterman)

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(Reuters) – President Joe Biden launches a coast-to-coast tour this week to tout the new climate and tax bill and boost Democrats running in November’s elections. But when he arrives, some of those candidates may be nowhere in sight, fearing Biden is too much of a liability.

Democrats hope the trip will boost the president’s poor poll numbers and draw attention to his achievements. But some candidates for Congress worry that campaigning with Biden will hurt them in the Nov. 8 election, according to more than a dozen interviews with senior Democrats and local campaign officials in battleground states including Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Biden, whose latest approval rating is 40%, is polling lower than most, if not all, Democratic candidates in competitive races, often by double digits, Democratic pollsters said.

The trip, the latest effort to reset his presidency, will test the limits of Biden’s influence in a party that has shown flashes of disloyalty in recent weeks. Some Democratic members of Congress have questioned whether Biden, at 79 already the oldest U.S. president, should run for reelection in 2024.

As they consider campaigning with him, Democratic candidates will closely watch whether Biden can move public opinion on his tour. On the plus side, Biden can share good news about recent legislative victories on climate change, gun control and boosting domestic microprocessor production along with a Kansas victory on abortion rights.

“Sure it was a great month, but the jury is still out whether it actually made a difference or whether it’s just too late,” said one senior Democrat.

Meanwhile, opposition Republicans have unified around attacking Biden despite the party’s internal divisions over former President Donald Trump and the fatal Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Right-wing media, elected officials and Trump have hammered a message that the White House has struggled to combat: Biden and his policies are responsible for record inflation, and he’s old, doddering and confused.

While Biden’s defenders note that inflation is higher in some other countries and say he is undiminished, some candidates worry they may face awkward questions at events about whether they support the president’s reelection. Their answers could serve as fodder for Republican rivals, sources said.

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Tim Ryan is running a populist campaign in Ohio against Trump-backed Republican J.D. Vance. The state has shifted hard to Republicans in recent elections, but polls show the race is a toss-up.

In July, Ryan, who currently holds a seat in the U.S. House, cited scheduling conflicts for skipping a Biden economic speech in Cleveland and has dodged questions about whether Biden should run again. Ryan would only consider appearing with Biden under limited circumstances, an official with the campaign effort told Reuters.

The official, for example, noted that Biden is expected to return to Ohio in coming weeks for the groundbreaking of an Intel plant that will eventually provide 3,000 jobs and get a big boost from the recently passed CHIPS Act, which aids the semiconductor industry.

“That is something Tim Ryan would likely attend with Biden. The messaging and politics are aligned,” the official said.

Ryan campaign spokesperson Izzi Levy said she could not comment on his plans related to his congressional work. But regarding political events with Biden, she said, “We have not asked him to campaign in Ohio and have no plans to do so.”

RISING TIDE

The Nov. 8 elections will determine whether Democrats retain their slim majorities in the House and Senate, or Republicans gain control. There are 43 competitive House races and seven Senate races, according to a Reuters analysis of data from three nonpartisan research groups on the competitiveness of U.S. elections. The White House thinks it can make gains in the Senate despite expected losses in the House.

Biden will speak at a Democratic National Committee event in Maryland on Thursday, his first political rally in months. It will serve as the kickoff to his midterm push. Democrats at the top of the ticket in Maryland are largely running against Trump-aligned opponents who face an uphill battle in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one.

Democrats in competitive races across the country say they are eager to see Biden hit the road and combat Republican attacks by boasting about a string of legislative achievements that include historic bipartisan bills on gun control and infrastructure along with more partisan achievements on climate change and health care. Officials frequently use the adage that a rising tide lifts all boats.

“If Biden can lift his poll numbers, it helps all Democrats,” a Democratic pollster involved in Pennsylvania races said.

In Pennsylvania, campaign officials say a Biden visit is unnecessary – and potentially risky – because Democrats have early leads over Republican candidates viewed as flawed. Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano is a Trump-backed election-denier who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington while Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz is struggling in early polls amid questions about his ties to the state.

“We hope the president comes to the state, but we are not sure how much the Democratic candidates will be joining him. At this point, it doesn’t make much sense,” said one senior Democratic official involved in the governor’s race.

Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, has appeared with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris separately this year. Manuel Bonder, a campaign spokesman, said Shapiro “will continue welcoming President Biden to his home state.”

Jennifer Holdsworth, a Democratic strategist, called the decision by some Democrats to distance themselves from Biden a “colossal mistake.”

“This has been a monumentally consequential administration. Voters don’t care about the politics of the moment, they care about results and this administration has delivered,” Holdsworth said.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Heather Timmons and Cynthia Osterman)

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