Harris positions to be Biden’s ultimate closer, or eventual replacement

Vice President Kamala Harris has emerged as both the top surrogate for President Joe Biden‘s 2024 reelection campaign and the leading pick to replace him should the president choose to step aside from the top of the party ticket.

While Biden continues to quarantine in Delaware while recovering from COVID-19, Harris continues to hit the campaign trail, posting stops in two battlegrounds this week alone.

On Wednesday, the vice president spent hours in Kalamazoo, Michigan, followed by a Thursday trip to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Friday saw Harris campaign at a local black-owned business in Washington, D.C., before taking the lead on a call put together by Biden campaign and Democratic National Committee officials with a number of high-profile donors in efforts to jumpstart the president’s fundraising. Incoming donations to Biden’s reelection effort plummeted following the first 2024 debate against former President Donald Trump, with some party insiders believing the campaign will receive just one-quarter of their predicted incoming donations for July.

“I will start by sharing something with all of you, something I believe in my heart of hearts. It is something I feel strongly you should all hear and should take with you when you leave, and tell your friends too,” the vice president reportedly told participants in the call. “We are going to win this election. We are going to win.”

Harris is also heading back out Saturday for campaign events in Massachusetts, according to her published daily schedule.

Multiple veteran Democratic campaign operatives who had previously voiced concerns to the Washington Examiner about Biden’s candidacy said “no matter who” ends up being the Democratic nominee, it’s important for Harris to “stay in the spotlight” for voters.

“Vice President Harris is the obvious choice to replace President Biden and not just because of the $100 million war chest she’d stand to inherit,” one strategist claimed, noting that, as Harris is already listed as Biden’s running mate, any funds raised by his campaign or affiliated super PACs would most easily be transferred to her.

“She’s able to go around the country and connect with voters and remind them of everything this administration has done over the past four years,” that person continued. “President Biden’s policies remain incredibly popular, and as she was a driving force beyond a lot of them, she can justly take credit without being saddled with questions about age or mental fitness.”

Biden and Harris routinely travel the country separately, for both campaign and official work, but a second Democratic operative noted that the president has made a point of appearing side by side with his running mate on an apparently increasing basis since the debate, including during a speech delivered from the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Sunday in which Biden urged the country to “lower the temperature” in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump.

“I don’t know if he’s trying to project unity, or if this is more of a ‘keep your friends close but your enemies closer’ type of decision, but it’s impossible not to notice,” that person assessed.

When it comes to who would actually perform better in the general election against Trump, however, the jury remains undecided.

Polling published in the immediate wake of the debate showed Harris outperforming all potential Democratic nominees, including Biden, against Trump, but polls published over the next several weeks were slightly more ambiguous.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll published July 2 found Harris losing to Trump by 1 point, though still within the margin of error, as opposed to a dead tie between the current and former presidents.

YouGov’s poll conducted between July 3-6 found Biden holding a 15-point lead over Harris when it comes to preferred nominees among Democratic and left-leaning independents.

A second poll released by Reuters and Ipsos on Tuesday found both Harris and Biden statistically tied with Trump, though 69% of respondents said they believed Biden is too old to hold public office. 

And a poll conducted by YouGov between July 13-16 found Biden losing to Trump by 2 points but Harris performing even worse.

Despite rumors about the nomination process, Biden has put his head down and vowed to see the election through to completion.

“Donald Trump’s dark vision for the future is not who we are as Americans. Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box,” Biden said in a statement on Friday, vowing to hit the campaign trail next week after his recommended quarantine period concludes. “The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”

Still, a growing number of Democratic lawmakers are publicly calling for Biden to exit the race, and party power players are slowly leaking private concerns to media outlets, further fomenting pressure on Biden to make way for Harris or another nominee.

Axios reported Thursday that some Democratic leaders believe Biden could exit the race as early as this weekend, while Democratic operatives previously predicted to the Washington Examiner that Sunday could be a make-or-break day for the president.

Harris is slated to stay in Washington, D.C., on Sunday with no public events on her schedule.