Joe Biden said American democracy was facing an “unprecedented” threat from political candidates who refuse to commit to accepting election results, as the US president made an eleventh-hour appeal to voters ahead of next week’s crucial midterm elections.
“There are candidates running for every level of office in America: for governor, for Congress, for attorney-general, for secretary of state, who won’t commit to accepting the results of the elections they’re in,” Biden said in a primetime speech from Washington’s Union Station on Wednesday night.
“That is the path to chaos in America. It’s unprecedented. It’s unlawful. And, it is un-American,” he added.
Biden, who has battled persistently low approval ratings for more than a year, has largely shied away from the campaign trail. But with less than a week to go until the midterms, and control of both chambers of Congress hanging in the balance, the president’s team on Wednesday morning hastily announced plans for the evening speech.
The speech appeared to have been organised in part in response to last week’s violent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, which Biden linked directly to January 6 2021, when mobs of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol and ransacked the Speaker’s office.
Wednesday speech came as opinion polls suggest Democrats are on course to lose control of the House of Representatives, while the balance of power in the Senate will probably be decided by voters in a handful of key swing states. Democrats have in recent weeks struggled to refine their “closing argument” to voters, as surveys suggest inflation and the economy are weighing heavily on Americans’ minds.
On Wednesday night, in an overtly political speech, Biden made an explicit pitch for voters to reject Republican candidates who have followed in Trump’s footsteps by questioning the 2020 presidential election result, or refusing to commit to accept the results of next week’s midterms.
“This is no ordinary year,” Biden said, asking Americans to “think long and hard about the moment we’re in”.
“In a typical year, we’re often not faced with questions of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy, or put us at risk. But this year we are,” he said. “I hope you’ll ask a simple question of each candidate . . . will that person accept the legitimate will of the American people? . . . Will that person accept the outcome of the election, win or lose?”
Financial Times analysis of candidate statements and legal actions found that at least 22 Republican nominees for governor, secretary of state or attorney-general have denied the results of the 2020 presidential election. They include Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidates for governor in Arizona and Pennsylvania, respectively. Both states are key battlegrounds where statewide contests are expected to be close not only in next week’s midterms, but also in the next presidential election in 2024.
Trump, who has falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and “stolen”, has repeatedly questioned why, in some states, initial vote counts showed him leading Biden, but the gap closed as mail-in ballots and other early votes were tallied.
Biden appeared to try to pre-empt similar arguments this year, saying the results of next week’s elections could take days to be finalised. Non-partisan analysts have warned vote counts in swing states such as Pennsylvania are unlikely to be completed on election night, thanks to tight margins and state laws that prevent the tallying of mail-in ballots before polling day.
“In some cases, we won’t know the winner of the election . . . until a few days after the election. It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner,” Biden said. “It’s always been important for citizens in a democracy to be informed and engaged. Now it’s important for citizens to be patient as well.”