Democrats see Kamala Harris as the ‘only choice’
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Kamala Harris is the “only choice” to replace Joe Biden as the Democrats’ presidential nominee as there is so little time until the election, senior party figures have told The Telegraph.
The vice-president is seeing a groundswell of support among the party’s many elected officials who believe the 81-year-old president’s position is untenable.
But the question of how she would assume the position at the top of the ticket, should Mr Biden stand down, is increasingly contested.
Allies of Ms Harris are reportedly already working on a plan to secure her as the candidate-in-waiting.
But on Friday, it was reported that Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, favours holding an open convention, which would allow alternatives such as Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, and Gavin Newsom, governor of California, to pitch for the nomination.
She reportedly believes that a “mini-primary” of sorts would strengthen Ms Harris and avoid giving voters the impression she was handed the nomination in a stitch-up by party leaders.
Should he quit the race, Mr Biden could ask the delegates who are bound to him as the winner of the Democratic primary to switch over and endorse Ms Harris. With the backing of the party’s most influential figures, a coronation of sorts could easily follow.
A former Obama strategist told The Telegraph that they favoured a swift hand-over without opening the floor to competition against Ms Harris.
“We’re 100-ish days from the election. I don’t think we have time for a process,” the strategist said, adding: “I think the vice-president is our only choice right now.”
The strategist, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, said Ms Harris was an “upgrade” on Mr Biden “in every way”.
“There’s not a single attack on Donald Trump that Joe Biden can make that Kamala Harris can’t make even better,” the strategist said.
The Obama-era veteran said Ms Harris could use her background as a former district attorney to her benefit. “This is somebody who convicted a lot of felons, running against a convicted felon. I’ll take that,” they said.
Another Democrat insider said, despite reservations about Ms Harris’s performance as vice-president, she has “grown” into the role.
The insider noted that as vice-president, Ms Harris has a rare insight into the challenges facing the US through her daily intelligence briefings.
“I think that has made her a deeper thinker,” he said, describing her having “an understanding of the world that she didn’t have three and a half years ago”.
Shifting polls
Polls suggest the public perception of Ms Harris has shifted following Mr Biden’s abysmal debate performance.
While Trump leads Mr Biden in most current polls, a recent survey by CNN had Ms Harris tying with the Republican nominee.
According to Politico, Ms Harris’s allies include former staffers, members of the influential Congressional Black Caucus, and other outside players.
“There is an effort quietly afoot to position an apparatus to turn on the lights,” one of those involved told Politico.
The caucus chairman, Jim Clyburn, is among those who favour Ms Harris as a replacement candidate. He told reporters: “I will support her if [Mr Biden] were to step aside.”
According to the New York Times, Ms Pelosi favours an open primary process because of polling data that shows many candidates could appeal to voters.
Alongside Ms Whitmer, Wes Moore and Josh Shapiro, the governors of Maryland and Pennsylvania respectively, outperformed Ms Harris in match-up against Trump in a survey Blue Labs analytics, a Democrat polling company.
Perceived as ineffective
There are concerns that a perception of Ms Harris as an ineffective vice-president may hurt her chances in the election, along with her refusal to break with Mr Biden over his failing health.
She may also be vulnerable over her assignment as the White House point person for controlling illegal migration at the southern border, which has surged under Mr Biden’s administration.
Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat representative for California and close ally of Ms Pelosi, publicly called for a “mini-primary” on Friday, as she urged the president to step down.
“I don’t think we can do a coronation,” she said. “Kind of a mini-primary, maybe a vetting hosted by former presidents, including Obama and Clinton, would be helpful.”
Democrats in Congress said they believed Ms Harris had performed strongly since Mr Biden’s disastrous debate of June 27.
“I do believe it has to be the vice-president. She’s campaigning vigorously under the mantle and she’s the natural successor. It’s going to be important in the scenario that the president isn’t the nominee that we rally around her immediately,” one House member told CNN.
Eleni Kounalakis, the lieutenant governor of California and a Democratic convention delegate, said that Mr Biden’s endorsement of Ms Harris would almost ensure her elevation to the top of the ticket.
“There’s so much respect for president Biden that if he asked delegates to support her, even with a public chaotic media swirl, I believe most delegates would honour his wishes as the person who was chosen through the primary process and as our president,” she said.
Unconvinced
However, not all Democrats were as convinced of the merits of choosing Ms Harris.
Vicente Gonzalez, who faces a tough re-election bid in Texas, wondered how quickly the party had moved on from the view that Ms Harris might actually be weighing down Mr Biden’s re-election chances.
“I just don’t understand how we go from that to the idea that she should be leading the ticket,” Mr Gonzalez told CNN.
“I have nothing against her, but the facts are just the facts. Not everything changed, right? How did we go from that to this? I mean, nowhere else in the world but this town, right?”
