BOSTON -- Days before polls close Tuesday, President Joe Biden still has no plans to visit Georgia. Instead, he aimed to help Sen. Raphael Warnock's reelection campaign from afar by hitting the phones with fellow Democrats.
Biden landed Friday afternoon in Boston to join the phone bank run by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to help Warnock's campaign before appearing at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which has spent millions of dollars to boost Warnock's campaign over Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
Biden fetched hot coffee for volunteers, too, and thanked them for their work.
"This race in Georgia ... it's really, really critical," Biden told members of the union who were poring over voting lists. "This is a guy who needs our help."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., attended the phone bank and said she told Warnock that she'd do a fundraiser in her home state for him. "What you're going to get is the best part -- labor is going to be making calls for you in Georgia."
Ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms, Biden avoided wading into key Senate races in states like Georgia, Arizona and New Hampshire, where his approval ratings have trailed below his numbers nationally.
Aides said the Boston trip was requested by Warnock's campaign and Biden obliged, reflecting his promise to go wherever Democratic candidates wanted him in 2022.
"The President is willing to help Senator Warnock any way he can," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week. That also meant not going where he was not wanted.
A 50-year veteran of Washington, Biden recognized that statewide candidates especially would seek to stake out a distinct identity for voters frustrated by politics in Washington, his aides said. Meanwhile, his appearances with Sen.-elect John Fetterman in Pennsylvania and more than a dozen House candidates helped Democrats keep Republicans to the narrowest of majorities in the upcoming Congress.
Warnock, throughout the campaign, has distanced himself from Biden. That's a stark contrast to the runoff campaign after the 2020 election.
His aides have explained that Warnock knew from the time of his January 2021 runoff victory that he'd win reelection in a midterm only by attracting votes from Georgians inclined to back Republicans -- and that was before inflation soared and Biden's approval ratings tanked.
With Biden's popularity having sagged in Georgia, Warnock framed himself as a bipartisan deal maker.
Biden told the phone bank workers that an oft-repeated GOP criticism during the 2022 election was that Warnock voted with him 98% of the time.
"I wouldn't tell 'em that on the phone," Biden quipped.
Thus far, Warnock's approach has paid off. Warnock consistently ran ahead of Biden's 2020 percentages in urban and suburban counties and some rural areas, as well.
While Democrats have already locked in control of the Senate for another two years, thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote, a true majority of 51 seats would speed up the confirmation process for Bidens' nominees and provide a cushion for the president should any lawmakers buck the party line.
Late Friday, Biden spoke to Democratic donors about how monumental that 51st vote would be should Warnock win, particularly on big-ticket legislation that has sometimes buckled when a single senator backs away.
"We can't have this hanging out on a thread, every single vote we have," he said at a private home in Beacon Hill.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., right, shakes hands with former President Barack Obama during a rally on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022, in Atlanta. Warnock is running against Republican Herschel Walker in a runoff election.(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
President Joe Biden returns a salute from the stairs of Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron stand on the stage during a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)