OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Things are so bad for Vice President Kamala Harris that even Democrats and their allies are beginning to doubt her.
During an interview on Fox & Friends, former Democratic state Senator Gloria Romero argued that Harris is “using” President Joe Biden as a “meal ticket” to run for president in 2024.
“Let’s face it, Joe Biden is Kamala Harris’ meal ticket to potentially the presidency,” said Romero, the former California Senate majority leader from 2005 to 2008.
“She needs to go ahead and to keep putting out there for the public and especially potential other opponents that Joe Biden is running, because the longer that people can believe that myth, the greater the opportunity is that no other contender like [Gavin] Newsom or [Pete] Buttigieg or even Hillary Clinton might step into the fray,” Romero added.
Harris didn’t do herself any favors back in June when she seemingly walked back a remark indicating Biden would definitely run for re-election in 2024.
“The president intends to run and if he does, I will be his ticket-mate,” Harris told reporters. “We will run together.”
According to a pool report, “The White House said [Harris] wanted to clarify comments she made on CNN a few days ago.”
During an appearance on CNN with host Dana Bash, Harris said emphatically that she and Biden are a package deal for Democrats going into 2024.
“Joe Biden is running for re-election and I will be his ticket-mate,” Harris told host Dana Bash.
For his part, rumors are flying that Biden’s administration has least looked into the idea of replacing Harris as vice president.
White House insiders are painting a picture of total chaos and discontent between Biden and Harris, according to CNN.
“Kamala Harris is a leader but is not being put in positions to lead,” a top Democratic donor said. “[Biden] should be putting her in positions to succeed, as opposed to putting weights on her. If you did give her the ability to step up and help her lead, it would strengthen you and strengthen the party.”
The CNN report also claims there’s a rumor that Biden has considered booting Harris from the vice presidency altogether and nominating her to a Supreme Court vacancy.
“That chatter has already reached top levels of the Biden orbit, according to one person who’s heard it,” CNN reported.
The rumor is now floating around the media as well.
In a scathing piece from New York Magazine, titled, “There Has to Be a Backup Plan. There’s a Backup Plan, Right? Inside the 2024 soul-searching that’s happening in every corner of the Democratic Party,” author Gabriel Debenedetti discusses how Democrats are facing a reckoning.
Debenedetti notes how there seems to be a major divide between Biden and his allies on one side and Harris and her loyalists on the other.
With Trumpism re-ascendant, ambivalence about Biden’s age and political standing is fueling skepticism just as the image of his understudy, Vice-President Kamala Harris, dips even further than his. The most recent analysis from the Los Angeles Times has her net approval rating at negative 11. The result is a bizarre disconnect within the Democratic Party, with two factions talking past each other.
One group consists of Biden and his loyalists, who are convinced that while the ticket’s numbers are undeniably bleak, they’re historically unsurprising for a president and VP facing their first midterm and will surely bounce back. The second group comprises a broad swath of the Democratic elite and rank and file alike, who suspect that vectors of age, succession, and strategy have created a dynamic with no obvious parallel in recent history.
Debenedetti notes that Harris expects Biden to run again in 2024, but if he did step aside, would he endorse Harris as the Democratic nominee?
