Joe Biden will not attend Kamala Harris‘ Election Night watch party, while First Lady Jill Biden stepped out with a bold red suit as she hopes the electoral map stays blue.
Both the president and first lady – who have largely been shut out of the campaign since Harris took the top of the ticket – will be watching the returns from home.
‘Tonight, the president and First Lady will watch election results in the White House residence with longtime aides and senior White House staff,’ a White House official said in a statement.
‘The president will receive regular updates on the state of races across the country.’
Jill was seen out and about voting in a bright red pantsuit, which made some wonder if she’d flipped and voted for Donald Trump.
Jill Biden was seen out and about voting in a bright red pantsuit, which made some to jokingly wonder if she’d flipped and voted for Donald Trump
Joe Biden will not attend Kamala Harris ‘ Election Night watch party
‘Jill Biden wore a full red suit and gold shoes to vote. #Trump2024,’ wrote one person, noting the GOP’s traditional affiliation with the color red and Trump’s love of gold.
‘As the wife of a Democrat politician there’s no was she doesn’t know how this looks,’ added another. ‘Joe and Jill are pissed.’
Still another said: ‘Jill Biden knows exactly what she did. Her outfit was on purpose.’
One used the hashtag #DemocratsForTrump and suggested Biden was ‘sending us a sign.’
The president in particular has been out of the spotlight after a massive gaffe in which he referred to Trump’s supporters as ‘garbage.’
On Sunday, as the Democratic nominee made her final push for election, Harris rounded up a star-studded crew of political big names and deployed them to the tightest swing states:
Barack Obama attended a rally in Wisconsin. Bill Clinton was on the trail in North Carolina. Even the current First Lady, Jill Biden, was out for Harris, greeting voters in Pennsylvania.
But Joe Biden was nowhere to be seen.
Social media jumped on the red dress and suggested Jill Biden might be flipping to Donald Trump
He was hidden away in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware – a comfortably Blue state – enjoying a long lunch at his golf club with an old friend.
Days before, Biden had embarrassed Harris with yet another gaffe – appearing to refer to Donald Trump’s supporters as ‘garbage’. Publicly, the White House insisted he hadn’t in fact said what everyone had heard.
But, behind closed doors, the message from the Harris campaign to Joe was clear: Stay away.
Certainly, Biden’s life has changed dramatically in the past three months. After entering the year insisting he was fit enough to run again and beat Trump, Biden finally dropped out of the race on July 21, endorsing Harris as his replacement the same day.
Within hours, Biden, 81, had become what he – and his highly ambitious wife – had always feared: a lame-duck president.
After four years at the center of the political universe, Biden was suddenly out of the spotlight – as the world moved its focus to a younger, more ebullient candidate.
This rapid relegation to the political periphery appears to have been actively – perhaps brutally – encouraged by Harris’s team.
Last month, according to a report by Axios, the Harris campaign has been rebuffing the president’s repeated offers to help her on the trail.
Both the president and first lady – who have largely been shut out of the campaign since Harris took the top of the ticket – will be watching the returns from home
The answer from Team Harris each time: We’ll get back to you.
Privately, Jill Biden has described the situation as ‘tough’ for her husband.
In early October, Jill left her husband to campaign across five key states for Harris. As she departed the White House, the president stood alone outside the Oval Office, waving goodbye as her motorcade drove away.
For her part, the First Lady is keeping busy. She still teaches English two days a week at Northern Virginia Community College. But when she’s out campaigning for Harris, it is notable that she barely mentions her husband.
Harris has been at pains to emphasize that her presidency would not be ‘a continuation of Joe Biden’s’.
Biden’s record on the immigration crisis, inflation and foreign wars is something Harris has awkwardly tried to distance herself from, despite also insisting she has been an active Vice President.
The wait is almost over for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as millions of Americans flood polls nationwide to vote in what could be the closest election in history.
Meanwhile, an NBC poll found 51 percent of voters trust Trump on the economy, compared to 47 per cent for Harris. 72 percent of voters said they were ‘angry’ or ‘dissatisfied’ with the state of the nation in a bad sign for the vice president.
In early October, Jill left her husband to campaign across five key states for Harris. As she departed the White House, the president stood alone outside the Oval Office, waving goodbye as her motorcade drove away.
It is the first indication of what voters were thinking as they cast their ballots across the country.
Earlier, technical issues have hit Indiana and crucial swing state Pennsylvania, where voting hours in Cambria County were extended after voters were instructed to place their ballots inside boxes after a software malfunction.
In Georgia, the secretary of state said non-credible threats originating from Russia briefly disrupted voting at two polling sites. And the FBI confirmed threats made by ‘Russian domains’ occurred in several other states.
Meanwhile Trump’s team does not believe the country will learn the election’s results tonight, CNN reported.
All eyes will be on the seven swing states that will be critical for victory: Pennsylvania , Georgia, North Carolina , Wisconsin , Arizona , Michigan and Nevada .