Biden, embarking on a coast-to-coast tour, is trying to shore up his support for Democratic candidates and prevent Republicans from taking control of Congress by touting the stark differences between the two major US parties. “It’s no exaggeration now you have to vote to literally save democracy again,” Biden told a crowd of several thousand over the country at a Democratic National Committee event at Richard Montgomery High School in a Maryland suburb of Washington. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “America has to choose. You have to choose. Whether our country is going forward or going backward,” he said. “Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans made their choice — to go back full of anger, violence, hatred and division,” he said, while Democrats chose to be a nation of unity and hope. The event was promoted by groups including women’s health provider Planned Parenthood and anti-violence activists Moms Demand, as Democrats rely on a new gun safety law and Republican-backed abortion bans to improve midterms. their prospects. Montgomery County, Maryland voted more than 78% for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020. Before the rally, Biden met with Democratic donors for a $1 million party fundraiser in a backyard in a leafy neighborhood north of Washington. Walking around with a handheld microphone, Biden laid out the turmoil facing the United States and the world from climate change. He talked about economic turmoil and the future of China and strongly criticized the direction of the Republican Party. “We are now seeing either the beginning or the death of an extreme MAGA agenda,” Biden said, referring to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. “It’s not just Trump … It’s almost semi-fascism,” he said. Republicans are hoping to ride voter discontent with inflation to victory in November, and they have history on their side. The party that controls the White House typically loses congressional seats in the new president’s first midterm elections, and political analysts predict that Republicans have a strong chance of taking control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. Democrats hold only a slim majority in the House, while the Senate is evenly divided, with the vice president’s power giving Democrats control. Republican control of one or both chambers could derail Biden’s legislative agenda for the second half of his four-year term. The heavy losses could also heighten questions about whether Biden, 79, should run for re-election in 2024 or hand over to a younger generation. But Biden and his team are increasingly hopeful that a string of recent legislative successes and voter anger over the Supreme Court’s overturning of a 1973 ruling that recognized women’s constitutional right to abortion will generate strong turnout among Democrats. Democrats want Biden’s trip to boost the president’s poor poll numbers and draw attention to his accomplishments. But some congressional candidates worry that campaigning with Biden will hurt them in the Nov. 8 election. read more Biden, whose latest approval rating is 41 percent, is trailing most, if not all, Democratic candidates in competitive races, often by double digits, Democratic pollsters said. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Steve Holland. Editing by Leslie Adler and Rosalba O’Brien Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
