The Trump campaign and Republicans were quick to attack Vice President Harris on Sunday after President Biden decided not to run for president in 2024 and endorsed her as the party’s nominee.
Republicans signaled at their convention this week how they would go after Harris if she replaces Biden at the top, and on Sunday the party did just that, blasting her for addressing the root causes of immigration, linking her to the Biden administration’s handling of inflation and accusing her of covering up Biden’s job performance and mental health.
“Kamala Harris has every left wing policy record of Joe Biden,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on Truth Social. “The only difference is she’s even more liberal than Joe and less competent. This is so amazing. She was put in charge of border control and we have seen the worst illegal immigration invasion in history!!!”
“Kamala Harris is just as much of a laughing stock as Biden. Harris will be even worse to the American people than Joe Biden,” Trump campaign senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Suzie Wiles wrote in the memo. “Harris has been Bad Joe’s top mentor all this time. They know each other’s records and there is no separation between them. Harris will have to defend the failed Biden Administration and his liberal, soft-on-crime record in California.”
Make America Great Again, a major super PAC backing former President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, quickly launched ads attacking Harris that will air in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.
“Kamala was complicit. She covered up Joe’s obvious mental breakdown. She did it because she knew Joe couldn’t do the job,” a narrator reads, while footage of Harris praising Biden is also included.
“Look what she’s done: border invasions, runaway inflation, the death of the American Dream. They created this mess. They — no, Kamala — own this failed record,” the ad continues.
The Trump campaign’s emergency response team quickly resurfaced old footage of Harris from the 2020 Democratic primary, one featuring her supporting a ban on plastic straws, another highlighting her support for Medicare for All.
Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to the Trump campaign, responded to Harris’ social media posts, writing that she sees Biden “on and off camera, in the Oval Office and on the campaign trail.”
“Yes… and you lied about it every day,” LaCivita replied with an X.
Trump himself did not immediately mention Harris, simply repeating Biden’s comments by saying, “It doesn’t matter who the left nominates right now.”
Republicans throughout last week’s convention signaled they would be better off facing Biden in November, viewing him as a candidate weakened by attacks from within their own party. But several speakers mentioned Harris by name, linking her to the surge in migrants at the southern border and continuing high prices.
Biden announced Sunday that Harris would not seek reelection and endorsed her to be the Democratic nominee.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to seek the nomination and to focus my efforts on the duties of my presidency for the remainder of my term,” Trump posted on X. “My first decision as the nominee of my party in 2020 was to select Kamala Harris as my Vice President, and it was the best decision I ever made.”
“Today I want to fully endorse and support Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year. Democrats, now is the time to unite and defeat Trump. Let’s do it together,” he added.
Harris has some clear advantages over other Democrats: She’s the candidate who won in 2020 and won millions of votes in this year’s primaries. She’s been campaigning in battleground states for months. She’s the face of the abortion rights campaign and the only candidate with access to the Biden-Harris campaign’s war chest.
Several lawmakers have publicly said they would support Harris as their running mate if Biden were to step down, and there would likely be political backlash if the party skipped its first female and first woman of color vice president and fielded another candidate.
There are several polls suggesting that Harris would have an advantage over Biden in a head-to-head matchup with Trump, but the results are mixed.
AnnNBC News SurveyThe poll released Sunday showed Trump leading Biden by two points, 45% to 43%, and Harris by two points, 47% to 45%.New York Times/Siena College PollHarris was found to have slight leads over Biden in Pennsylvania and Virginia, but both states need to be won by Democrats.
Ms. Harris is not without flaws: Her 2020 presidential campaign was marred by internal problems and an inability to produce a winning message after much publicity. She dropped out before the 2020 Iowa caucuses.
Many Democrats endorsed Harris on Sunday after Biden’s announcement, with a few notable exceptions. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies, D-N.Y., did not immediately endorse Harris in their statements about Biden’s decision.
