OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Vice President Kamala Harris has responded to recent reports that President Joe Biden is considering replacing her atop the ticket with him ahead of his anticipated 2024 reelection run, as well as calls from some Democrats to move away from her as well if he decides not to run.
Biden has not yet formally announced a reelection bid, which is odd given considering that Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, have either announced a run or have indicated they will run.
“And Harris, the administration’s lead official on matters involving the southern border, has frequently been pointed to as a possible scapegoat for Biden to escape the alleged failings of his first term in office,” the Washington Examiner reported. “Harris joined CBS’s Gayle King Wednesday morning following the president’s 2023 State of the Union and shook off the idea Biden could pick a new vice president.”
“Well, let me first of all say, as the president has said, he intends to run, and if he does, I’ll be running with him,” she told King. “As it relates to the work of being vice president — listen, I love the American people.”
The report noted:
Harris is scheduled to travel to Georgia and Minnesota this week to “meet with a bunch of college students about the work we’re doing on the climate crisis.” Meanwhile, Biden himself is scheduled to visit union workers in Madison, Wisconsin, on Wednesday. Both states were critical to Biden’s 2020 victory over former President Donald Trump.
“We are doing, again, historic work that’s about creating jobs but also investing in a clean energy economy. Tomorrow, I’m going to be in Minnesota. Yesterday, I convened a bunch of foreign policy experts around an upcoming trip, my second trip to Munich, Germany, to speak on behalf of the American people at the Munich Security Conference,” Harris said. “There’s important good work that’s happening. And I take the job very seriously, and I’m honored to serve.”
Nevertheless, the mainstream media has begun pushing a narrative of infighting and a potential 2024 shake-up on the Democratic ticket. In a scathing piece published by The Hill last month, Douglas MacKinnon suggested that Democrats could be “in a world of hurt” if they don’t “look beyond the current occupants of the White House.”
“About two months ago, I wrote an article suggesting that President Biden should replace his vice president, Kamala Harris, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and then resign, to give Democrats a better chance at retaining the White House in 2024. Though of course it was not a game plan that Biden would ever entertain, my intent was to ignite a discussion on the viability of a ticket led by either Biden or Harris going forward. And my point still stands: When it comes to picking a presidential ticket for 2024, many people believe — including some liberals — the Democratic Party could be in a world of hurt if it doesn’t look beyond the current occupants of the White House,” wrote MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant.
“Some Democrats have told me they don’t think either Biden or Harris would give their party the best chance in the next election. More than that, several worry that Democrats will have a dilemma if they try to move away from Harris, since she is the first woman and first person of color to be elected vice president — a special place in American history,” he added.
And this week, The New York Times published a story quoting a number of Democrats who also expressed doubts about running Harris at the top of the ticket should Biden bow out. Several Democrats who spoke to the outlet — anonymously — doubted she would be the 2024 nominee and added that she has not done much to define herself and her role in the administration.
“Even some Democrats whom her own advisers referred reporters to for supportive quotes confided privately that they had lost hope in her,” notes the story by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Katie Rogers, and Peter Baker.
