State of the Union 2023: The state of Kamala Harris ahead of likely reelection bid
Katherine Doyle
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Vice President Kamala Harris’s role is under new scrutiny as President Joe Biden prepares for what appears to be his inevitable reelection campaign.
Harris will be pitched over Biden’s right shoulder as he lays out his case to voters for another four years in office, premised on the notion that he has secured significant legislative victories that help Democrats win.
But as Biden prepares to tick through his record, Harris is coming under pressure to assert her place on a ticket after a checkered two years as vice president.
How much Biden needs Harris to succeed politically in the election isn’t clear.
Harris made history as the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American to be elected vice president but has struggled to define her role in an administration led by a veteran of Washington politics, with his own eight-year tenure in the post.
HARRIS RIVALS ‘UNDER SIGNIFICANT PRESSURE’ TO RUN IN 2024 IF BIDEN DOESN’T
The vice president holds the support of close Biden allies who helped invigorate the now-president’s flagging campaign before the crucial South Carolina primary, in which he secured more than 60% of the black vote. Support from black voters later helped propel Biden to victory in the general election, including in Michigan, flipping the state into the Democrat’s column and away from former President Donald Trump.
In Michigan, South Carolina, and other states Biden needs to win in 2024 to retake the White House, black voters, particularly women, will be an integral base of support.
“Biden doesn’t need Harris, but he definitely needs the support of black women,” said Joe DiSano, a Democratic political consultant in Michigan. “They are the beating heart of the Democratic Party.”
It’s also a bloc that has coalesced behind Harris over time.
While Harris struggled to win over black voters during her own presidential campaign in 2019, after taking office, polls measuring her support in a hypothetical Democratic field showed the vice president leapfrogging competitors.
There are other factors magnifying attention on Harris. Biden will turn 82 in November 2024, raising the specter of her place as the president’s potential successor, a dynamic that former Vice Presidents Mike Pence, Al Gore, and Biden had to contend with.
The possibility that Harris may again one day look to lead a Democratic ticket has some party allies questioning her political acumen, particularly in crucial swing states.
Talk of Harris’s inability to clear the field isn’t new. During the Democratic nominating contest in 2020, Harris’s presidential campaign ran aground before reaching her home state of California.
The sentiment spilled into public in January when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a formal rival for the Democratic nomination in 2020, stopped short of a full endorsement when asked whether Harris should remain Biden’s 2024 running mate.
Warren is not the only prominent Democratic woman appearing to cast doubt on the abilities of the person poised to succeed Biden.
“Two Democrats recalled private conversations in which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lamented that Ms. Harris could not win because she does not have the political instincts to clear a primary field,” the New York Times reported in a story that assessed Harris’s future political prospects with increasing alarm.
Harris’s record earning votes could compound Democrats’ recent struggles in states like Florida, where Republicans notched record midterm victories, including in a Democratic stronghold.
Former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez (D) said Harris was not really on his radar as he thinks about the party’s prospects heading into the next presidential race.
“I don’t know much about her. I feel that she should have made more of the vice presidency than she has,” Martinez said.
The longtime radio host said he is backing Biden for a second term and thinks speculation should stop until the president formalizes his decision. But he urged the White House and party to better make their case.
“The major problem I see with the administration is a lack of messaging,” he said. “I don’t see many Democrats out there supporting what the president has done, and what happens in this country is all about media.”
Biden’s aides are under mounting pressure to reach voters.
A recent NBC News survey showed that despite Biden’s legislative accomplishments, a better-than-expected midterm election, and positive economic news, voters continue to question the president’s competence, mental acuity, and ability to handle a crisis.
Biden’s press secretary said the administration’s policies made a persuasive case for voters in the November elections last year, slowing Republicans’ gains and keeping Democratic losses to a minimum.
“If you look at what candidates, senators, and congressional members ran on, it was the successes,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.
Still, new polling from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows a little over one-third of Democratic voters think Biden should seek a second term, 37%, down from 52% in the lead-up to the November elections last year.
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Biden also faces a stronger-than-expected challenge from Trump, who is running for the Republican nomination, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Many in the president’s party are waving off the concerns. Democrats touted as possible standard-bearers in recent years have thrown their weight behind Biden, while delegates in Philadelphia as the president spoke last week chanted, “Four more years.”