Biden to attend DNC event on Friday as White House ramps up abortion rights contrast with GOP

By Phil Mattingly, CNN

President Joe Biden will attend a Democratic National Committee event on Friday as the White House moves to sharpen the contrast with Republicans on abortion.

The Washington event will focus on Biden’s economic agenda and legislative wins, while also serving as another venue for Biden to highlight areas Democrats view as central political strengths less than 50 days from the midterm election: Abortion rights and hitting the GOP’s Medicare and Social Security proposals.

Biden has accelerated his political activity over the last several weeks as Democrats press to seize on momentum coming from a string of legislative victories and outcry from their base in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe vs. Wade. He attended multiple party fundraisers this week while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and is scheduled to attend a DNC rally in Florida on Tuesday.

“This election is going to be tight. Very tight,” Biden told donors on in Manhattan on Thursday. “We lose the House and Senate, that changes the trajectory of much of what we’re able to do.”

The amped up focus on abortion from the President — who has long been wary of talking publicly about abortion rights — comes as Democrats have seized on a proposal from Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, that would implement a federal ban abortion in most cases at 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Biden targeted Graham’s proposal at a fundraiser Thursday, saying it underscored how Republicans “have gotten more extreme in their positions.”

Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, made a point of detailing the specifics of Graham’s bill at length — and the Democratic objections to them — during an interview at The Atlantic Festival event in Washington.

“The contrast couldn’t be clearer,” Klain said of the two parties heading into the midterms.

While Klain said he believed Democrats would hold the House and Senate, historical and economic headwinds are real, particularly for the narrow House Democratic majority.

Soaring inflation, which the White House has grappled with for months, remains a pervasive issue even as gas prices have steadily dropped over the course of the summer.

While Democrats say they are in a better position than many expected going into the homestretch of the campaign, a series of tight Senate races and Republican advantages across many frontline House districts give the distinct possibility that one, or both, chambers could flip.

“There’s a lot up for grabs, a lot at stake, from choice to social security, to gun rights, to global warming, to democracy itself,” Biden said at the fundraiser.

Republicans targeted Biden’s fundraising swing, which has drawn more attention from Biden than campaign events with Democratic candidates over the course of the last several weeks.

“Families are struggling with an unprecedented crime wave, decades-high inflation, and a wide-open southern border, yet Joe Biden spends his time catering to liberal elites,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Vaughn said in a statement.

Still, Biden has sharpened his political message in recent weeks as his schedule has picked up, particularly on the issue of the abortion rights, and the White House continues to target Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s proposed GOP agenda.

Scott’s proposal includes a requirement that federal legislation would sunset every five years unless reauthorized by Congress. That has led critics to say that would include popular programs like Medicare and Social Security — potent political issues in past elections.

Scott, for his part, has appeared to relish the battle over his proposal, which was introduced in his personal capacity and not through his role as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“@JoeBiden said he wished he had enough copies of my Rescue America plan, so I stopped by the White House today to make sure he did,” Scott wrote in a tweet that pictured him standing in front of the White House. “Thanks for spreading the word, Joe!”

Biden’s account, a few hours later, tweeted its thanks to Scott — and its own link to the proposal.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments Thursday.

The-CNN-Wire
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