WASHINGTON — In the week since President Joe Bidenin dismal debate performanceVice President Kamala Harris has emerged, publicly and privately, as one of his fiercest defenders – and as the person with the most intense support to succeed him on the ticket if he resigned.
NBC News spoke to seven sources who emphasized that while Harris is focused on building trust in Biden, her loyal allies are making it clear that should the chance arise for her to take on the leadership role, she will have broad support across the party. . Those allies, who include several black Democrats, have said openly that any attempt to remove her this year would be met with strong and vocal resistance.
“I think she did very well,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who added that while he will continue to support Biden as the party’s nominee, Harris should not be passed over if Biden drops out. “She was always good. I think she’s better. And I think she’s better than any of the names that have been thrown around.”
Sharpton, a civil rights activist and MSNBC host, added that there is “no doubt” in his mind that the motivation of anyone trying to sideline Harris, the first woman of color and South Asian descent to serve as vice president, is “racist and misogynistic”.
“If anyone tried, they better know I’m on the tracks to stop the train from moving forward,” Sharpton said of any effort to put someone other than Harris at the top of the crossing. “When people voted for Biden to be the nominee, they were voting for the Biden-Harris ticket. How are you now going to separate this ticket and open it? There is no legitimate excuse. The calculation is ‘We can do this because she’s a woman and because she’s black’. Well, black people and women should not tolerate this calculation.”
Minutes after the debate, Harris was already on television making a scathing defense of Biden. Three sources familiar with the series of interviews said Harris was not given any official talking points from the campaign and had very little time to prepare.
Her instant reaction gave Democrats a blueprint for defending Biden that has been repeated countless times since she uttered these words on CNN: “I’m not going to spend all night with you talking about the last 90 minutes while I’ve been watching the last 3 1/2 years of acting.”
Democrats also followed her lead after she explicitly attacked former President Donald Trump for promoting “lies” and creating “damage across the country” and made it clear she was focused on defeating Trump in November.
The impact of Harris’ ability to react quickly to questions about Biden’s stamina and ability for a second term has helped calm some of the criticism that has dogged her for years, including questions about her effectiveness in administration and her ability to win the presidency. . . Biden’s campaign has touted her interviews as talking points to defend the president, and some Democrats have quietly pointed to her performance as evidence that she should not be sidelined as the party’s nominee if Biden drops out of the race.
Meanwhile, Harris herself has been receiving and making calls to dozens of party leaders, civil rights activists and donors to reassure them about the path forward with Biden as their candidate and to help unify the party, according to four sources who spoke directly to Harris last week. During those calls, Harris reiterated that she remains loyal to Biden and that Biden has weathered tough storms in the past, including when his path in the 2020 primaries was uncertain.
One person familiar with Harris’ thinking said the message was: “We are ready for this fight. Let’s stay positive. Head down. And we will execute, because we have a lot of work to do.”
On Wednesday, Biden and Harris participated in a call with the entire campaign team and delivered similar messages.
“We will not back down,” Harris said. “We will follow the example of our president. We will fight and we will win. … Joe Biden dedicated his life to fighting for the people of our country. Right now, I know we are all ready to fight for him.”
Leah D. Daughtry, a Democratic political strategist with close ties to Harris’ office, echoed that sentiment and said Democrats need to focus on defeating Trump.
“President Biden had a bad night,” Daughtry said. “I think ignoring his body of work over the last three and a half years and what he’s actually accomplished during his presidency is actually quite ruthless and impressive, in my opinion.”
Inside Harris’ office, she and her senior leadership have also made it consistently clear that staffers should remain focused on supporting Biden as the front-runner and not getting involved in conversations about his replacement, said two sources granted anonymity to speak freely. about the conversations.
Donna Brazile, a veteran Democratic political strategist and former chair of the Democratic National Committee, said talk about replacing Biden on the ticket is “an attack on the democratic process” and “complete nonsense.”
“How can we say we are the party that will preserve and strengthen democracy and then overturn the will of the American people?” Brasile said. “That’s why none of us who are delegates are even having this conversation.”
Two sources also said that Harris was not originally part of the Fourth of July celebration at the White House with Biden, but was added to convey their message of “unity” as outside pressure mounts for Biden to drop out.
Still, even with Harris presenting a united front, many — including major Democratic donors and Democratic lawmakers — have questioned whether Harris should be the Democratic presidential nominee if Biden resigns. Governors Gavin Newsom of California, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have all been mentioned as potentially stronger choices to replace Biden.
And some congressional Democrats have whispered that Harris at the top of the ticket is an even scarier prospect than running against a diminished Biden, because many polls in recent years have shown her to be less popular than him.
A Democratic congressional aide said several Democrats in tough races worry about the “chaos” that would ensue if Harris were the nominee. “There are definitely a lot of people who are pushed toward Biden because they are worried that the alternatives won’t perform as well, starting with her,” the aide said.
A Democratic strategist who works on House races said the party’s candidates have been significantly outperforming Biden for months and generally prefer to run with him over Harris at the top of the ticket. But after the debate, there was some change.
“I’ve never heard so many people say, ‘Fuck it, Kamala would be better,’” the strategist said.
Questions about Harris’ ability to run at the top of the ticket have been met with deep frustration from many within the party, including many black Democrats.
Harris’ allies point out that she has successfully run for statewide office, both as California’s attorney general and as a state senator. They also say she has emerged over the past two years as the administration’s most prominent voice on abortion rights, a key issue for voters, and on issues like the economy, which she has pushed hard to attract voters. blacks, Latinos and others. by heart.
Brazile, who has remained adamant that the party does not plan to replace Biden, said that if Biden decided to step down, she and other Black women in the party would not allow Harris to be passed over.
“If someone wants to get past the vice president of the United States and find someone else, if this is a legitimate scenario or conversation, they would still have to get through some of us,” Brazile said. “Black women are still the backbone of this party. We have been the backbone. And we will continue to help lead the Democratic Party. I’m not saying we’re playing the race card or the gender card. We are playing a leadership card. And Vice President Harris was part of the leadership of this Democratic Party.”
Meanwhile, Rep. James Clyburn, D.S.C., co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign who was instrumental in helping Biden win the nomination by endorsing him in the 2020 South Carolina primary, told MSNBC that he would “support” Harris if Biden “stepped aside.”
“This party should in no way do anything to bypass Ms. Harris,” Clyburn said. “We must do everything we can to support it, whether it is in second place or at the top of the table.”
There is also the question of money and who could use Biden’s campaign account, which had $91.2 million as of May 31. during a tense call between campaign aides and donors, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, said that if Biden decided to resign, Harris would control most of the money in the campaign account. And Harris donors too I started to strategize about what his candidacy would be like if Biden decided not to continue running.
A CNN poll released Tuesday also found that Harris would do better than Biden in a hypothetical showdown with Trump. According to the poll, 47% of registered voters would support Trump and 45% would support Harris, although the result is within the margin of error. Historically, however, Harris’s approval ratings have often lagged Biden’s approval, which has also been low.
Still, several people around Harris say she remains focused on reassuring elected officials and others that the debate has not significantly affected the race — on conveying that the president she works with every day remains in command of his duties, in rallying the pockets of the Biden-Harris coalition that needs to be supported, including the parties’ major donors and voters, and in prosecuting Trump’s election.
Her message, they said, remains very similar to what Harris said the day after the debate at a campaign event in Los Angeles.
“Four things remain true before and after this debate: The stakes are higher than ever,” Harris said, to applause. “This person [Trump] It is a threat to our democracy. We have all the right issues on our side in terms of what we are fighting for. And do you know the fourth thing that remains true before and after the debate? Trump is still a liar.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
