Former Clinton adviser: Biden’s path to victory ‘has all but vanished’

Doug Sosnik, a longtime Democratic strategist who served as former President Clinton’s political director, said in an opinion essay Friday that President Biden’s path to recapturing the White House “has all but vanished.”

“President Biden has spent much of 2024 with a more challenging path to winning a second presidential term in November than Donald Trump,” Sosnik said in the New York Times op-ed. “But for reasons that have become glaringly obvious, that path has all but vanished.”

Sosnik’s opinion piece comes as Biden faces intense political headwinds in the wake of his woeful debate performance last month. The debate has spurred increased concern among voters over Biden’s age and a growing list of House members calling for him to step aside.

“I’ve never seen such a grim Electoral College landscape for Mr. Biden: He not only faces losing battleground states he won in 2020, he is also at risk of losing traditional Democratic states like Minnesota and New Hampshire, which [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton and [former President] Obama carried,” Sosnik said. “If current trends continue, Mr. Trump could rack up one of the most decisive presidential victories since 2008.”

Biden and his advisers have tried to quell the fears of those in his party panicking over the possibility of him losing to Trump, seemingly with little success so far.

At a press conference Thursday night, Biden said he believes he is “the most qualified person to run for president.”

“I believe I’m the best qualified to govern,” Biden said. “And I think I’m the best qualified to win. But there are other people who could beat Trump too. But it’s all start from scratch. And you know, we talk about money raised. We’re not doing bad.”

“So let’s start there, No. 1,” he continued. “The fact is, the consideration is, that I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once, and I will beat him again.”

However, Sosnik said even the campaign’s best hope for winning the Electoral College — winning the swing states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — was an uphill battle.

“Each of the three states poses particular challenges for Mr. Biden. Current polling shows him trailing Mr. Trump by as many as five points in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and more narrowly in Michigan,” he said. “The deficit in Pennsylvania must be particularly disconcerting for Mr. Biden and his campaign, given the time and resources devoted to the state.”

Sosnik noted that Republicans are directing more of their campaign spending on these three states and that time is quickly running out for Democrats to make a change.

“If Mr. Biden has any chance of beating Mr. Trump and not taking the Democratic Party down with him, he must demonstrate in the next few weeks that he has the mental and physical capabilities to lead the county for another term in office,” he wrote.

Biden and Trump are only 1 point apart in an average of national polls by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, with the former president at 44.9 percent and the incumbent at 43.9 percent. In this average, Biden is up slightly on Trump in Michigan and down 1 point in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.