Although President Joe Biden has pledged over and over that he will stay in the race, calls for him to step down continue to mount, following a disastrous debate performance and the most likely scenario for a new Democratic candidate is Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris.
According to The New York Times, James Clyburn, the South Carolina Senator who has been credited with helping Biden obtain the presidency in 2020, has been shooting down any idea other than Harris becoming the replacement nominee.
“This party should not, in any way, do anything to work around Ms. Harris,” Clyburn told the outlet.
Like Clyburn, Democratic donor Steve Phillips sees the idea of working around Harris as problematic, but Phillips pointed at the issue of Harris, a Black woman, being hinted at as not qualified for the position.
“She’s the vice president of the United States, which for the past 50 years of this country has been heir apparent,” Phillips told The New York Times.
“So it’s unseemly at best that now that we have a woman and a person of color as the vice president, that there’s this discussion about all these other people, most of whom are white and men.”
According to Reuters, the numbers support Harris becoming the Democratic Party candidate. In a CNN poll released on July 2, her numbers against Trump are better than Biden’s. According to the poll, Biden trails Trump 49% to 43%, while Harris only trails the Republican Party nominee 47% to 45%, which is within the 3% margin of error.
Independents also prefer Harris at 43%-40%, while moderates in both parties prefer Harris at 51%-39%. Also, in addition to Clyburn, Summer Lee, a progressive Black Pennsylvania House Democrat, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York congressman and a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, have publicly signaled that Harris is the best option if Biden steps down. According to a congressional aide, House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has also privately done the same.
Still, most Americans don’t seem to know enough about Harris to support her. Notably, Black Americans support at 58% while 32% view
her unfavorably. Due to her polling numbers being nearly identical to Biden’s, other names such as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmire have all been floated.However, according to sources familiar with an all-staff call with the Biden-Harris campaign, Harris has been trying to galvanize Democrats around Biden, despite calls for her to take his place. Those sources noted that Harris told those on the call, “Joe Biden has devoted his life to fighting for the people of our country. And in this moment, I know all of us are ready to fight for him. This is about saving our f—ing democracy.”
Former Rep. Tim Ryan, a former Ohio Democrat who has publicly called for Harris to take up the mantle if Biden drops out, told The Wall Street Journal
that Harris makes as much sense as anyone else whose name keeps coming up.“People are looking for some new generational leadership, and we’ve got a very accomplished vice president. To me, it just makes a lot of sense to give her the opportunity.”
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