Kamala takes over as Biden undergoes root canal.

On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris took on the role of President Joe Biden, who was undergoing a root canal procedure. The event was College Athlete Day, where over a thousand champion college athletes gathered on the White House South Lawn. Harris delivered an inspiring address to the athletes, taking responsibility for the presidential duty.

Biden reported tooth pain on Sunday and underwent a root canal procedure. The White House confirmed that the president received local anesthesia and did not transfer his powers to Harris. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that “the president is doing just fine and he will be certainly working in the residence this afternoon” following the treatment at the White House. However, the procedure did force Biden to reschedule a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

First Lady Jill Biden raised speculation over whether Biden was conscious during the root canal when she commented on the procedure at a New York campaign fundraising event. She stated that she went to the dentist office at the White House to check on Biden and “he was under anesthesia. But he came up and he was good.” A White House official clarified that Biden had simply undergone local anesthesia for the procedure.

Harris’s substitution for Biden comes as the White House seeks to boost her image as she faces low favorability ratings. The Biden campaign’s launch video in April featured several clips of Harris with the president, part of what Axios described as a coordinated White House effort to rehabilitate her approval. However, the unpopular Harris is widely seen as a liability for the 80-year-old Biden’s 2024 campaign. Democrats rejected her when she sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019—she bowed out of the race before the first primary election was held.

This report was written by Trevor Hunnicutt, with additional reporting by Tyler Clifford and Doina Chiacu in Washington and Nupur Ananda in New York. The editing was done by Jonathan Oatis, Grant McCool, and Leslie Adler.