With Biden out, Democrats move fast to try to strengthen Harris

Less than 24 hours before President Joe Biden rocked the world by dropping his reelection bid, about 100 progressive activists gathered in front of the White House to call on the president to “pass the torch.” 

It was time, they made clear, for the older president to do what he had said he’d do early in 2020: serve as a “bridge” to the next generation, strongly implying he’d serve just one term. 

“Wide swaths of the Democratic Party” shared concerns about Mr. Biden, Quentin Colón Roosevelt, the 20-year-old great-great-great-grandson of President Teddy Roosevelt, told the crowd.  

Now that Mr. Biden is out, Democratic anxiety remains high that former President Donald Trump could return to power, but there’s also a fresh wave of hope that Vice President Kamala Harris can salvage her party’s prospects in November. 

The task is daunting. Ms. Harris ran a famously inept presidential campaign in the 2020 cycle and has had high-profile stumbles as vice president. She will own the Biden record, not popular with the public, as well as a portfolio loaded with tough issues (starting with the root causes of illegal immigration) and memes that mock her laugh and other awkward public moments. 

“At this point, it’s still Donald Trump’s election to lose,” says Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a Los Angeles-based political analyst.

Now, after Mr. Biden’s dramatic announcement, followed shortly by his endorsement of Ms. Harris for the Democratic nomination, the party has begun to coalesce around her. On Monday, the Associated Press reported that Ms. Harris now has the support of more than half of the Democratic convention delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

Prominent Democrats – governors; senators; former President Bill Clinton and his wife, 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton – have one by one endorsed Ms. Harris. On Monday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a key voice in the delicate effort to persuade Mr. Biden to step aside, threw her support behind the vice president. An exception, former President Barack Obama, has raised eyebrows by not endorsing Ms. Harris, instead calling for an open nomination process. His reported goal is to remain above the fray, avoiding the appearance of a Harris coronation. 

Indeed, Republicans are already arguing that Ms. Harris’ seeming anointment is undemocratic, that it has negated the voices of the 14 million Americans who voted for Mr. Biden in the primaries. But, Democrats say, Ms. Harris is Mr. Biden’s obvious successor, and to bypass her – a Black, South Asian woman – would alienate critical segments of the Democratic base. 

The reality, too, is that time is short. The Democratic National Convention begins in four weeks, and the party is playing catch-up. Ms. Harris trails Mr. Trump in head-to-head matchups by a bit less than Mr. Biden did – 2 percentage points on average versus a 3-point deficit for the president, according to The New York Times. And the GOP attacks on Ms. Harris are only getting started. 

“She better figure it out fast, because she and her team are about to get hit with everything but the kitchen sink – and probably that, too,” says Jim Manley, a veteran Democratic consultant. 

A key, he says, will be to avoid the kind of infighting and leaks that dogged Ms. Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, as well as her tenure as vice president. Things settled down after the arrival of veteran Democratic operative Lorraine Voles as her chief of staff in 2022. 

The newly minted “Harris for President” campaign effectively inherits the massive Biden-Harris campaign apparatus. She’ll have her own inner circle of advisers, including sister Maya Harris, but she can’t match Mr. Biden’s own “kitchen cabinet” for its decades of experience – spanning all or most of the president’s 52 years in politics. 

Still, Ms. Harris’ sudden ascension brings a burst of energy to a campaign that had been consumed for weeks by Mr. Biden’s visible struggles with sharpness – a decline that became painfully evident in his disastrous debate against Mr. Trump a month ago. 

Recent reluctance to donate to the Biden campaign has given way to a burst of giving. In the 24 hours since Mr. Biden left the race, the Harris campaign says it has raised $81 million  - the highest 24-hour “raise” of any candidate in history, the campaign says.

Ms. Harris’ all-but-certain rise to the Democratic presidential nomination has also energized her most fervent core of supporters, Black women – often described as the backbone of the Democratic Party.

On Sunday evening, a group called Win With Black Women held a three-hour call with 44,000 participants and raised more than $1.6 million for the Harris campaign. 

One group member, Democratic strategist Karen Finney, says it’s clear from the vice president’s statement Sunday that “she’s very aware of the importance of earning this, and not having it be a coronation.” 

“She was on the phone yesterday, calling delegates, putting in the work,” says Ms. Finney.

On Monday, Ms. Harris paid tribute to the president in her first public remarks since Mr. Biden dropped out of the race. Speaking from the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate the 2023-2024 NCAA championship teams, Ms. Harris praised the qualities “that I have seen every day in our president: his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart, and his love – deep love – of our country.” 

Ms. Harris now faces the high-stakes task of selecting a running mate. Three Democratic governors have figured prominently in speculation – all white men from states seen as reflecting mainstream American values: Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, one of three must-win battleground states for the Democratic ticket; Andy Beshear of solid-red Kentucky; and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, another electoral battleground. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former astronaut from another battleground state, is also getting mentions. 

Between now and Election Day, Ms. Harris will face the most intense public scrutiny in a political career that has taken her from San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, and U.S. senator to vice president. Her public approval ratings have typically come in even lower than Mr. Biden’s, and it may not be easy for her to recraft her image. 

With Mr. Biden now set to retire at the end of this term, his party’s task is to establish the strongest record possible for his successor nominee. 

For Ms. Harris, it will be trial by fire, with little time to hone her skills on the stump before voters start casting ballots. 

In the words of veteran Democratic strategist Peter Fenn: “We’re now moving at lightning speed after moving at glacial speed.”