Harris praises Biden in first appearance since campaign exit

WASHINGTON >> Vice President Kamala Harris praised President Joe Biden’s performance in her first public appearance today since abruptly abandoning his re-election bid and endorsed her as his successor.

“Joe Biden’s legacy over the past three years is unparalleled in modern history,” Harris said at a White House event honoring college athletes. “Every day, our President, Joe Biden, fights for the American people, and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.”

Harris made no specific reference to her new status as the leading Democratic presidential candidate after Biden announced Sunday that he would step down amid mounting pressure from party members.

She said in a message on X that she would be visiting what had been the Biden campaign headquarters in Delaware — now the Harris campaign headquarters — this afternoon. She said Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, was feeling better.

Campaign officials and allies have already made hundreds of phone calls on her behalf, urging delegates at next month’s Democratic National Convention to join her in nominating her for president in the Nov. 5 election against Republican Donald Trump.

Nearly all of the prominent Democrats seen as potential challengers to Harris have thrown their support behind her, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Biden’s departure was the latest shock in the race for the White House, which had been marked by the near-assassination of former President Trump by a gunman at a campaign rally and the nomination of Trump’s hardline colleague, Senator J.D. Vance, as his running mate.

“My intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said in a statement Sunday. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump.”

Harris, who is Black and Asian American, would create a whole new dynamic with Trump, 78, creating a vivid generational and cultural contrast.

Trump’s campaign has been preparing for her possible rise for weeks, sources told Reuters. It today sent out a detailed critique of her record on immigration and other issues, accusing her of being more liberal than Biden.

The Trump campaign accused Harris of advocating disbanding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and decriminalizing border crossings, supporting the so-called Green New Deal, backing government mandates for electric vehicles and encouraging efforts to defund the police.

Some of those positions Harris took when she was an unsuccessful presidential candidate in the 2020 election, running on a more liberal platform than Biden. But they were not positions the administration took, particularly on border security and law enforcement.

Biden, at 81 the oldest person to ever occupy the White House, said he will remain in the presidency until the end of his term on Jan. 20, 2025.

Biden’s shaky performance in the June 27 debate against Trump prompted leading Democrats to urge him to end his candidacy. Leading Republicans, however, demanded that he resign, arguing that if he is unfit to campaign, he is unfit to govern.

Harris spent Sunday on the phone, wearing a Howard University sweatshirt and eating anchovy pizza, as she spoke with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential vice presidential running mate, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Rep. Steven Horsford, sources said.

Trump, whose false claims that his 2020 loss to Biden was the result of fraud fueled the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, today questioned Democrats’ ability to change candidates.

“They stole the race from Biden after he won the primaries,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.

Despite initial expressions of support for Harris, talks of an open convention were not completely quashed during the Democratic convention in Chicago from August 19-22.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama did not announce endorsements, though both praised Biden. In a message on X that did not mention Harris, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a major Democratic donor, encouraged the party to “take the pulse of voters” before making a decision.

With Democrats venturing into uncharted territory, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said the party would soon announce the next steps in the nomination process.

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Biden won the party’s nomination in 2020, choosing Harris as his vice president, defeating Trump. She is a former California attorney general and a former U.S. senator.

Harris is expected to largely adhere to Biden’s foreign policy on issues such as China, Iran and Ukraine, but she could take a tougher tone with Israel over the war in Gaza if she tops the Democratic ticket and wins the November election.

She has spoken out on abortion rights, an issue that resonates with younger voters and more liberal Democrats.

Supporters argue she would motivate voters, bolster black support and use sharp debating skills to further the political case against the former president.

However, some Democrats raised concerns about Harris’ candidacy, in part because of the long history of racial and gender discrimination in the United States. In the nearly 250 years of the United States, no woman has ever been elected president.

Polls show that Harris is not statistically outperforming Biden against Trump.

In a head-to-head matchup, Harris and Trump were tied at 44% support each, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted July 15-16 immediately after Trump’s July 13 assassination attempt.

Trump had a 43% lead over Biden in the same poll, to 41%, though the 2 percentage point difference is not meaningful given the poll’s 3-point margin of error.

Biden’s campaign had $95 million on hand at the end of June, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. Trump’s campaign ended the month with $128 million. Campaign finance law experts disagree about how easily that money could be siphoned off to a Harris-led campaign.

Harris’ campaign had raised $49.6 million in less than 24 hours after Biden left office, a campaign spokesman said today.

More than 44,000 Black women and allies, including Reps. Maxine Waters, Jasmine Crockett and Joyce Beatty, participated in a three-hour phone call in support of Harris’ candidacy on Sunday night, raising more than $1.5 million for her presidential campaign, organizers told Reuters.

Biden has not been seen in public since testing positive for COVID on Wednesday. He has been isolating at home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and tentatively plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday if he recovers.