Before President Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate in August 2019, they were often belligerent with one another during the primary season when both candidates were looking to secure the top spot on the Democratic Party ticket. In contrast, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Harris often had kind words for one another when they represented their respective states in the upper chamber of Congress. However, the senator’s warm and fuzzies for the VP apparently don’t extend toward the future of the party’s leadership in 2024.
Joe? Check. Kamala? […]
In presidential politics, it is customary for others in the party who would like to seek the presidency to step back and allow the incumbent to first decide to run for a second term. Warren has apparently done just that when she announced her intention in May 2021 was to seek reelection to her current senate position in 2024, even though she will be 75 years old.
In a recent interview Warren provided to Boston Public Radio (BPR), she provided an emphatic yes when asked whether or not the 80-year-old Biden should seek a second term. She also offered her belief he will be running again after a successful primary season. When the interviewer turned to the topic of Harris having the second spot on the ticket, she said she would “defer” to what the president and a future campaign team would decide.
Turbulent Tenure
Biden hasn’t officially declared he will seek the Oval Office again and so obviously has made no mention of a potential running mate. However, any future hesitancy he might express, along with Warren’s lukewarm comments, could be based on the public’s opinion of the job Harris has done since taking office.
Cleve R. Wootson, Jr. penned an article in the Washington Post on January 30. He said he interviewed “more than a dozen Democratic leaders… some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.” He claimed they see Harris’s time in office as “underwhelming,” in part because she occasionally seems to become almost invisible.
The piece goes on to identify misgivings over two issues: does Harris have the “political skills” needed to help Biden win in 2024, and secondly, something no Liberal worthy of the name who is addressing the media can pass up, she’s a woman of color in a country growing in its bigotry and misogyny.
American politics is often a popularity contest, which could explain some hesitancy about the VP among some of the Democrats. The polling group FiveThirtyEight reported its January 27 poll indicated 51.2% of Americans disapproved of Harris, while Pew Research, in its January 18-24 survey, found that number to be 56%, with 34% saying their point of view was “very unfavorable.”
