**Welcome to Inside Washington! We are 106 days out from Election Day.**
On Monday afternoon, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries practically strutted to his gaggle. Just a few days ago, Jeffries had the unfortunate task of meeting with President Joe Biden, though he declined to offer his endorsement.
But now that Biden dropped out, he had a spring in his step as he got ready to speak to reporters, as if he had been unburdened by what has been.
He gave reporters the obligatory praise to Biden and said that he would meet with Vice President Kamala Harris. The meeting, which will include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is at this point a mere formality given that nearly every faction of the Democratic Party from moderate Democrats who wanted Biden out to progressive members of the Squad to Jeffries's predecessor Nancy Pelosi have gotten firmly behind her.
Democrats have been in a crisis mode for the past few weeks ever since Biden's disastrous debate. Now, they are allowed to have somewhat of a clean break and focus on beating Donald Trump.
But Biden will still be president until January 20. He also remains extraordinarily unpopular for all the reasons that he stepped away: he is seen as too old, a relic of a time past in American politics.
But in deciding to hand off the baton to Harris, Biden might have a chance to create a better on-ramp for his erstwhile running mate: clear the deck by doing all of the unpopular and unpleasant work to allow Harris to not have to face those difficult questions on the campaign trail.
"President Biden's gonna continue to do his job," Jeffries told The Independent. "We still have more work to do. We still have to lower costs, we still have to end price gouging. We have to continue to grow the middle class, defend democracy and fight for reproductive freedom."
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