Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin will not appear with President Joe Biden when he visits her home state of Wisconsin on Friday.
Baldwin, who is seeking a third Senate term, did not appear alongside Biden during his past three visits to the battleground state. Her team insists that she is not snubbing the president, who is expected in her hometown of Madison while she visits elsewhere in Wisconsin as part of her “Fired Up for Tammy” campaign tour.
Her office added that the events have been part of her schedule for weeks. However, Republican figures are suggesting that Baldwin is purposely avoiding associating herself with Biden, who has faced a recent wave of criticism, so it doesn’t affect her reelection hopes.
On June 27, Biden debated his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, at CNN‘s studio in Atlanta. His performance raised major concerns about whether the 81-year-old should seek a second term in office. On Tuesday, Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett became the first Democratic lawmaker to publicly call on Biden to end his 2024 campaign.
Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine, wrote in an opinion piece for the Bangor Daily News that he is OK with Trump beating Biden in November.
“Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise,” Golden wrote. “It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.”
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat who represents Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, also said she thought Biden would lose to Trump following the president’s “painful” debate performance.