Vice President Kamala Harris has been working hard to make the case for another term for President Biden, but conspicuously mentioned Biden’s name only once during a campaign rally in New Orleans on Saturday.
“In 122 days, each of us has the power to decide what kind of country we want to live in,” Harris, 59, told Essence Ventures CEO Caroline Wanga during a roughly 30-minute interview at Essence Fest, a flagship event hosted by a black women’s magazine, now in its 30th year.
Harris, whose record and work within the Biden administration has been questioned in the past, has been thrust into the national spotlight following Biden’s dismal performance in the June 27 debate.
Biden’s hoarseness and apparent struggle to form coherent thoughts during his speech against former President Donald Trump sent waves of panic among Democratic politicians and major donors, leading several prominent Democrats and newspapers to call for the 81-year-old Biden to resign.
Democratic leaders have begun raising questions about whether Ms Harris, a former senator and California attorney general, is more likely to defeat former President Trump than Mr Biden.
The president’s continued bizarre public behavior and unusual statements have raised questions about his competence and seriously shaken confidence in his ability to serve another term.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that VP Harris could “overwhelmingly” win against President Trump, and enthused that she would be a “phenomenal” commander in chief.
“I think she has the experience, the judgment and the leadership to be a great president,” Schiff told NBC’s Kristen Welker.
However, Schiff did not call for Biden to step down, instead urging the incumbent to “stand back and be objective” and consult with people before deciding about a future candidacy.
What to know about the impact of President Biden’s debate performance:
Ahead of the vice president’s onstage question-and-answer session this weekend, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), poured cold water on the notion of a change in the Democratic nominee.
“There will be no other Democratic candidate,” the 17-term congressman said to loud applause from the crowd.
“It’s going to be Biden, you know that.”
Instead of repeating Waters’ reassurances about Biden himself, Harris touted her own record and blasted Trump’s 34 felony convictions and threats of revenge against political opponents.
“This is perhaps the most important election of our lifetimes,” Harris said, stressing the importance of this year’s election.
“I’ve said this every four years, but this is the last time.“, She said:
She mentioned President Biden only briefly, when discussing his administration’s efforts to move toward student loan forgiveness.
While replacing the president with Vice President Harris has supporters, at least notionally, the change would be far from an outright win for Democrats.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after the debate showed Harris’ support was not much higher than Biden’s, with 42% of respondents saying they supported her compared to 43% for Trump.
According to the FiveThirtyEight poll, Harris has an approval rating of 37.1% and a disapproval rating of 49.6%, while the president’s approval ratings are 36.9% and 57.1%, respectively.
Those numbers aren’t that different from what Trump recorded in the same poll, where he had a 38.6% disapproval rating and a 53.6% approval rating.
