For the cover of New York Magazine’s December 18–31 issue, national correspondent Gabriel Debenedetti reports from inside the Biden campaign, looking at its unflashy, methodical reelection strategy and diving into the widespread anxiety outside the campaign that the aging president and his team are facing potentially insurmountable electoral headwinds. For the report, Debenedetti spoke with dozens of Biden insiders at the White House, inside the campaign HQ in Delaware, and in vital states all over the country.
“I started working my way into BidenWorld’s inner orbits for this story over the summer — back before the 2024 freak-out level reached its current heights,” said Debenedetti. “Over the last few months, my big question hasn’t changed: What, exactly, is the plan to get the president reelected? (Or, in other words, to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.) What I found is a surprising depth of strategy, but also a serious chip on their shoulder and sometimes brash confidence that despite the horrible polls and liberal concerns, they know what they’re doing.”
The cover is a photograph from inside Biden’s reelection headquarters in Delaware on Election Night 2023, by Brian Finke for New York Magazine.
Elsewhere in the issue, features writer Lisa Miller examines the complexities of American girlhood in the era of new weight-loss treatments, with parents, activists, and doctors divided about giving children new drugs for weight loss, and features writer Lila Shapiro explores the lives of those in relationships with a large age gap, accompanied by a photo portfolio of self-portraits by the subjects.