OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Several Democrats are admitting that they have lost hope in Vice President Kamala Harris, with some admitting to the media that Harris is a liability for the 2024 presidential election.
The New York Times headlined in an article Monday that Harris is struggling to “define her vice presidency and that even her allies are tired of waiting.” The outlet added that more and more Democrats are beginning to agree that Harris is a disappointment at best.
“But the painful reality for Ms. Harris is that in private conversations over the last few months, dozens of Democrats in the White House, on Capitol Hill, and around the nation — including some who helped put her on the party’s 2020 ticket — said she had not risen to the challenge of proving herself as a future leader of the party, much less the country.”
Even some Democrats who were supposed to be supporters of Harris “confided privately that they had lost hope in her.”
Democratic fundraiser John Morgan was so fed up that he went on the record against Harris, arguing her weakness as vice president will be “one of the most hard-hitting arguments against Biden.”
“It doesn’t take a genius to say, ‘Look, with his age, we have to really think about this,’” he argued. “I can’t think of one thing she’s done except stay out of the way and stand beside him at certain ceremonies.”
Political commentator Jesse Kelly recently brought up Harris’ infamous past and laced into the VP with a hilarious comment.
“That is why she knifed Joe Biden in the debate with all the race nonsense, there was no reason to do that,” he said. “It’s the same reason she cackles like a dead hyena anytime she is asked an uncomfortable question. It’s the same reason she started her political year as Willie Brown’s bratwurst bun. Kamala Harris will do anything to get ahead.”
Tucker Carlson refers to VP Harris as "Willie Brown's girlfriend… a person with no adult skills, a person who can't figure out how to pronounce her own first name." pic.twitter.com/yVGFZShE4r
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) July 30, 2021
Kamala Harris slept with a man who was legally married. His name was Willie Brown and he was a man with many connections.
Can you take a wild guess why she had sex with a married man who was 30 years older than her that had many political connections ? pic.twitter.com/d8vFAGgt1u
— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) January 27, 2021
For context, Reuters published a story back in 2019 about Harris and former San Francisco Democrat Mayor Willie Brown:
Kamala Harris did have a relationship with Willie Brown, who later served as San Francisco’s mayor, between 1994 and 1995 ( here ). The Los Angeles Times first linked the pair in 1994 (here) when Harris, beginning her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office ( www.harris.senate.gov/about ), was 29 and Brown, speaker of the California State Assembly (here ), was 60 (here ).
Although Brown was legally married at the time, he had reportedly been estranged from his wife, Blanche Brown, since 1981, according to People magazine (here). As reported (here) by the San Francisco Chronicle, Harris and Brown broke up in 1995. On Dec. 26, 1995, reporter Herb Caen wrote in his daily column that the couple had split, adding the “news came as a shock to many, including those who found Kamala Harris attractive, intelligent, and charming.”
Brown went on to serve as mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004 (here). Elected in 2003, Harris would become the district attorney of San Francisco (www.harris.senate.gov/about). The claim Harris “had an affair with a married man” is technically true. But given Brown had been separated from his wife for more than a decade, the claim is misleading. Harris and Brown’s relationship was not secret and they made public appearances as a couple ( here, here ).
On Jan. 26, 2019, Brown published a short op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle with the headline “Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?” (here).
It is possible that Harris could be on her way off of President Biden’s 2024 ticket.
Political pundit and conservative commentator Mike Miller opined in a piece for Red State that he believes the unpopular vice president could be replaced, but President Biden would be met with accusations of being a misogynist and a racist even if she was replaced by another black woman.
Miller argued that her lack of any discernable skills, abhorrent speech-making, and general unpopularity could be a hindrance to the president, particularly due to his age, which would be 82 in 2024.
“Kamala Harris has been the best insurance policy against being dumped by the Democrat Party that feckless Joe Biden could have. And as his decision to seek re-election looms, Corn Pop’s pal — with a ‘little’ help from his Democrat ‘friends’ — must also decide whether Kamala Harris will be with him on the 2024 ticket if he does decide to run,” Miller said.
Miller went on to argue that he believes Harris should be replaced, but will not be, which could lead to a Republican victory unless they drop the ball.
But Miller is not the only person to doubt Harris’ ability to attract voters, with some of those naysayers coming from within her own party.
A report by The Washington Post said some top Democrats are concerned about the vice president’s political prospects.
“Such concerns about Harris’s political strength were repeated often by more than a dozen Democratic leaders in key states interviewed for this story,” it said. “Harris’s tenure has been underwhelming, they said, marked by struggles as a communicator and at times near-invisibility, leaving many rank-and-file Democrats unpersuaded that she has the force, charisma, and skill to mount a winning presidential campaign.”
“People are poised to pounce on anything — any misstep, any gaffe, anything she says — and so she’s probably not getting the benefit of the doubt,” Jacquelyn Bettadapur, the leader of the Cobb County Democrats in Georgia said. She said that people “don’t know enough about what she’s doing” and “it doesn’t help that she’s not [that] adept as a communicator.”
Even Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who said she supports President Joe Biden seeking re-election, did not commit to supporting Harris as vice president on the ticket.
