WASHINGTON – That of Joe Biden the name was not on the ballot, but history will probably remember it Kamala Harris resounding defeat as his loss too.

As Democrats pick up the pieces following the president-elect that of Donald Trump decisive victorysome of the vice president’s supporters are expressing frustration that Biden’s decision to seek re-election until this summer — despite voters’ long-standing concerns about his age and unease over post-pandemic inflation as well that on the border between the United States and Mexico – practically sealed his party’s doom. the White House.

“The greatest responsibility for this loss lies with President Biden,” said Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination and endorsed Harris’ unsuccessful bid. “If he had resigned in January instead of July, we might be in a very different situation.”

Biden will leave office after leading the United States out of the worst pandemic in a century, galvanizing international support for Ukraine in the wake of The invasion of Russia and pass a A $1 trillion infrastructure bill which will impact communities for years to come.

But after running against Trump four years ago to “restore the soul of the country,” Biden will give way after just one term to his immediate predecessor, who overcame two impeachments, a felony conviction and a insurrection launched by his supporters. Trump has pledged to radically reshape the federal government and roll back many of Biden’s priorities.

“Maybe in 20 or 30 years, history will remember Biden for some of these accomplishments,” said Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University. “But in the short term, I don’t know if he will escape the legacy of being the president who defeated Donald Trump and then ushered in another Donald Trump administration four years later.”

The president remained out of sight for the second day in a row on Wednesday, making congratulatory calls to Democratic lawmakers who won the election, as well as to Trump, whom he invited to a White House meeting that the president elected official accepted.

Biden is expected to deliver a Rose Garden speech on the election on Thursday. He released a statement shortly after Harris delivered her concession speech Wednesday, praising Harris for running a “historic campaign” under “extraordinary circumstances.”

Some high-ranking Democrats, including three Harris campaign advisers, expressed deep frustration with Biden for failing to recognize earlier in the election cycle that he was not up to the challenge . The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Biden, 81, ended his re-election campaign in July, weeks after a dreadful debate sent his party into a spiral and raised questions about whether he still had the mental acuity and stamina necessary to be a credible candidate.

But polls showed long before that many Americans worry about his age. Some 77% of Americans said in August 2023 that Biden was too old to be effective for four more years, according to a survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs.

The president bowed out on July 21 after receiving not-so-subtle nudges from Democratic Party powers that be, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He endorsed Harris and entrusted him with his campaign operation.

Harris managed to generate far greater enthusiasm than Biden generated from the party base. But she struggled to distinguish how her administration would differ from Biden’s.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View” in September, Harris could not identify a decision where she would have separated from Biden. “Nothing comes to mind,” Harris said, giving the Trump campaign a sound bite that it replayed throughout Election Day.

Strategists who advised Harris’ campaign said the campaign’s tight schedule made it even more difficult for Harris to differentiate herself from the president.

If Biden had withdrawn early in the year, they said, it would have given Democrats enough time to hold a primary. Going through the paces of an intra-party competition would have forced Harris or another prospective candidate to more aggressively express their differences with Biden.

Strategists acknowledged that overcoming broad dissatisfaction among the U.S. electorate over rising costs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and broad concerns about the U.S. immigration system were weighing heavily on the minds of voters in key states .

Still, they said Biden left Democrats in an untenable situation.

David Plouffe, senior advisor to Harris, a publication on He called it a “devastating loss.” Plouffe did not assign blame. He noted that Harris’ campaign had “come out of a deep hole, but not deep enough.”

At the vice president’s concession speech On Wednesday, some Harris supporters said they wished the vice president had more time to deliver her speech to American voters.

“I think it would have made a huge difference,” said Jerushatalla Pallay, a Howard University student who attended the speech at her campus center.

Republicans are poised to control the White House and the Senate. Control of the House has not yet been determined.

Matt Bennett, executive vice president of the Democratic group Third Way, said this moment was the most devastating the party has faced in its lifetime.

“Harris was dealt a really bad hand. Some of it was due to Biden and some of it maybe not,” said Bennett, who served as an aide to Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. “Would Democrats be better off if Biden had backed down sooner? I don’t know if we can say for sure, but it’s a question we’ll be asking ourselves for a while.

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Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.