WASHINGTON — As President Joe Biden continues to face pressure to withdraw from the Democratic nomination, Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to balance being ready to replace him with making the case to donors and party officials — including some who have already begun investing to support Harris, regardless of where she ultimately lands on the ticket.
The effort to devote resources to advertising and collecting polling data on public perceptions of Harris comes as many Democrats have begun to rally around the idea that she could not be ignored if Biden steps down and Republicans have stepped up their attacks on her since Biden’s dismal debate.
And while Harris has made clear she remains loyal to Biden, her support within the party has grown in the past two weeks, especially as research by some Democratic groups shows she may be particularly adept at mobilizing young black and Latino voters.
“All of her political supporters are talking about the possibility of her running for president,” said Jamal Simmons, who worked for a year as Harris’ communications director. “I’m sure it’s embarrassing to hear so many people talking about her place on the presidential ticket when she’s still in the White House, working with the president’s team every day and seeing him every day.”
Simmons added, however, that he was not surprised that Harris remained so loyal to Biden because when he was in the White House, Harris always made it clear in her actions and words that she saw her role as that of a partner to Biden.
“She’s doing what she’s supposed to do, which is help hold the party together and be a strong partner,” Simmons said. “In the last couple of weeks, a lot of people who wouldn’t have described themselves as fans before have rallied around her because of her strength and the way the process of nominating someone new and launching a campaign leads you to see Kamala Harris as the best possible alternative. The more people do the math, the faster they’re coming to Kamala Harris as the answer.”
Those calculations have led groups like Way to Win, a national strategy center for donors aligned with Democratic causes, to pour money over the past two weeks into studying how voters perceive Harris and how they can best support her, regardless of Biden’s ultimate decision moving forward.
As part of that effort, Tory Gavito, president of Way to Win, said they funded two surveys in the past two weeks to find out how Democratic and independent voters in swing states viewed Biden and Harris after the debate and how voters more likely to vote Republican viewed the candidates after the debate. As part of that effort, Gavito said the group is gathering information on which groups viewed Harris favorably, but also what kind of messages about her resonate with voters.
“It’s no secret that Biden had some very tough days after the debate, and during that time Kamala really showed forcefully that she can go after Trump and MAGA,” Gavito said. “We can’t afford to stop, which means we have to play hard with the ticket that we know we have.”
Way to Win has not taken a position on whether Biden should drop out of the race. But Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, a co-founder of the group, indicated on social media that Democrats might be open to changes in the ticket. “It doesn’t have to be a war. It could be a discussion!” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Being able to have a democratic discussion is part of what differentiates us from our opposition.”
Way to Win found that Biden and Harris were performing similarly with Democrats and independents and still had work to do with independent voters. But the group found that Harris received a “significant boost” from “younger segments of voters that Biden has struggled with” and that she was performing well with voters of color and women. They also found that Harris’ work as a leading advocate for access to abortion care in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago resonated strongly with Democrats and independents.
It’s a shift in perception of Kamala Harris, who at the start of Biden’s presidency was seen by some in the Democratic Party as a liability, not an asset. Some critics within the party have said she has struggled to gain political traction with American voters. And, well before the debate, Republicans have focused their attacks on her for years, hoping to stir up opposition to Biden by portraying her as a liberal force pushing him away from the center.
Gavito also said groups like his are keenly aware that Republicans are paying even more attention to Harris.
On Friday, the Trump campaign sent out an email titled “Crooked Biden Recap: Harris is Biden 2.0” and pointedly attacked her, claiming that Harris is a “liar” and “anti-worker.” Earlier this week, the Trump campaign released an online ad dubbed “Great Kamala Cover-Up” in which Harris speaks positively about Biden’s ability to serve as president with the words “Kamala lied to us for years about Biden” appearing in the opening seconds.
The Republican National Committee has also lashed out at Harris, including posting this week on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Democrat policies have destroyed America. It doesn’t matter which unpopular candidate they choose.”
Gavito said the efforts illustrate the need for Democrats to work to craft messages that champion Harris. “It’s important that the KHive is activated and growing,” she said, referring to a term used to describe Harris’ supporters online. “The social media environment thrives on fighting, unfortunately, and so if Kamala doesn’t have an active base that can counter the misogyny of the right, then those stories start to stick.”
Pamela Shifman, president of the Democracy Alliance, a network of major liberal donors, echoed that sentiment. “We will always continue to support the leadership of our Vice President Kamala Harris,” she said in a statement. “Next week, the racist and sexist attacks by Republicans against our vice president will intensify, and it is all of our jobs to help counter them.”
Harris has traveled the country speaking with Democratic donors, elected officials, civil rights leaders, party activists and voters to advocate for Biden as the party’s nominee.
Since the June debate, her office said she has traveled to six states (including Nevada twice) and given four national interviews where she urged people to judge Biden on his overall performance as president over the past three years and attacked Trump as a threat to democracy.
On Saturday, Harris will travel to her seventh state since the debate, where she will deliver a keynote address at the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Presidential Town Hall in Philadelphia.
A source familiar with the vice president’s plans said her trips were deliberately designed to place her in front of black, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander communities to build support among Democrats.
“Over the past week, the Vice President has spoken with elected officials across the country to thank them for their support for the President and his team and reiterated the need for Democrats to be united in our goal and mission to defeat Donald Trump again in November,” an aide in Harris’ office said in a statement.
His efforts have marked longtime Democrats as an example of how the party must navigate the uncertainty that grips it as Biden tries to recover from the damage of the debate.
Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat who supports keeping Biden at the top of the ticket, said Harris’s holding the line for president shows the strength of her character.
“She’s trying to be very careful because she doesn’t want to look like she’s trying to undermine him,” Wilson said of Harris and Biden. “It shows the character of a Black woman. And that’s what we’re used to doing because we carry the nation on our shoulders. We carry everybody. And that’s what she does. And that’s what she’ll continue to do. And that’s why I love her.”
News Source : www.nbcnews.com
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