President Joe Biden called a lid for the day Tuesday morning.
Reporters from the White House press pool broke the news on Twitter. The lid was called at 11:20 am EST, meaning Biden will not make any public appearances for the rest of Election Day, though he can still issue statements and be active on social media. Biden spent the past week campaigning for Democrats in high-profile races around the country.
Biden has been active on his personal Twitter account and on the official Presidential Twitter account pushing get-out-the-vote messaging for Democrats. The White House Twitter account has also been actively tweeting get-out-the-vote messaging.
“Folks, today is the day,” Biden tweeted from his personal account. “If you haven’t voted yet, head to http://IWillVote.com to confirm your polling location.”
On the Presidential account, Biden repeated his closing arguments ahead of the midterms. “I inherited skyrocketing deficits partially caused by an unpaid-for $2 trillion tax cut that benefitted the very wealthy,” he wrote from the @POTUS Twitter account. “This year alone, we’ve cut the deficit by $1.4 trillion. And we’ll cut another $250 billion over the next decade.”
The White House and Presidential accounts both shared a meme telling people to vote.
Vote. pic.twitter.com/jOyFWjhrwy
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 8, 2022
Last night, Biden spoke briefly to the press outside the White House, saying he was optimistic about Democrats’ chances to hold both chambers of Congress, while the prospect of a Republican-controlled Congress would make his Presidency “more difficult.” Biden spent much of the 2022 campaign season demonizing Republicans as “threats to democracy” and warning his base that Republicans would erase many of his policies if elected.
Biden’s lid comes as early voter data from several states showed a potentially dire situation for Democrats. Data from Nevada showed Democrats lagging far behind their Election Day 2020 turnout in Clark County, Nevada on Tuesday. Republicans lead Democrats nearly 4:1 in Election Day turnout so far in Maricopa County, Arizona, and turnout in rural Yavapai County is at record levels, Data Orbital tweeted. And Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman tweeted that Democrats are suffering a turnout drought in Virginia and Florida.
Biden spent much of the last week attending rallies for Democrats in key races, in an attempt to drum up support from the Democratic base ahead of the midterms. He campaigned for Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and Senate candidate Val Demings in Miami Gardens on November 1.
On November 3, he traveled to New Mexico to stump for embattled Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in her race against Republican Mark Ronchetti. Then on Saturday, Biden campaigned for Democratic Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro and Senate candidate John Fetterman.
Biden attended a rally Sunday for New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who is locked in a tight race with Republican candidate Lee Zeldin. During the rally, Biden erupted at a heckler who criticized the Biden administration’s policy on oil and gas drilling. “No more drilling,” Biden told attendees. Biden then began to shout at a woman protesting in the crowd. “There is no more drilling,” Biden snapped. “I haven’t formed any new drilling.”
“There are at least five more years of offshore drilling,” the woman shouted back. “[I]n the Atlantic or the Pacific but in the Antarctic and off the gulf of New Mexico.”
“That was before I was president,” Biden responded. “We’re trying to work on that and get that done.”
At another event in Maryland on Monday, Biden appeared to forget the name of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore. “And, of course, you got that next governor. What’s his name? Wes … Wes …,” Biden stammered. “Wes Moore!” Biden shouted attendees held up Moore’s campaign signs. “The guy’s the real deal, man.”