Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Biden, Harris to Make Unusual Campaign Debut in Virus Era
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
August 12, 2020

Share

WILMINGTON, Del. — Joe Biden is making his first appearance with newly chosen running mate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, betting that the California senator’s historic profile and confrontational style against President Donald Trump will boost Democrats’ efforts to oust the Republican president amid cascading national crises.

A reflection of coronavirus guidelines, there will be no adoring throngs that would greet a new running mate in a routine campaign and certainly one with Harris’ historical significance. The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she is the first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to join a major party presidential ticket.

The former primary rivals will appear at a high school near Biden’s Delaware home to discuss their shared vision for how to defeat Trump and then lead the country through a pandemic, its economic fallout and a long-simmering reckoning with systemic racism. Harris and Biden then will sit down together for an online fundraiser designed to let even small donors get a fresh glimpse of what the Democratic presidential ticket will look like together.

A reflection of coronavirus guidelines, there will be no adoring throngs that would greet a new running mate in a routine campaign and certainly one with Harris’ historical significance. The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she is the first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to join a major party presidential ticket.

But the 55-year-old former prosecutor will have to put her animated public style – often a contrast to the folksier 77-year-old Biden – to use in television and online streaming formats without voter interaction or feedback.

The Biden campaign has said it plans a rollout that blends the historic nature of Harris’ selection with the realities of the 2020 campaign and the gravity of the nation’s circumstances.

“I need someone working alongside me who is smart, tough and ready to lead. Kamala is that person,” Biden told his supporters in an email explaining his running mate choice.

Photo of Kamala Harris
FILE – In this June 27, 2019, file photo, then-Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., listens to questions after the Democratic primary debate hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Art in Miami. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Harris Was Considered a Favorite Throughout Biden’s Search

“I need someone who understands the pain that so many people in our nation are suffering. Whether they’ve lost their job, their business, a loved one to this virus,” Biden continued. “This president says he doesn’t want to be distracted by it. He doesn’t understand that taking care of the people of this nation – all the people – isn’t a distraction; it’s the job. Kamala understands that.”

Harris was considered a favorite throughout Biden’s search. She’d been a regular surrogate for him for months, with the pair appearing at ease during online fundraisers together and the senator appearing on her own as a surrogate for campaign events and on television.

They’ll nonetheless have to paper over some differences exposed during the early primary campaign, from Harris’ initial support for a single-payer health insurance system and the Green New Deal to her deeply personal debate-stage broadside against Biden over his opposition to federally mandated busing to integrate public schools in the 1970s.

Trump’s campaign immediately seized on those circumstances, with the president tagging Harris as “Phony Kamala” and casting her as the latest evidence that Biden, a five-decade veteran of the Democratic establishment, is captive to “the radical-left.”

Biden’s campaign seemed prepared for the counteroffensive on Wednesday, noting that just weeks ago, Trump told reporters that Harris would be a “fine” choice. Campaign finance records show that before he ran for president, Trump contributed to Harris’ campaigns in California.

And perhaps further confusing the GOP messaging, national Republican Party operatives on Wednesday highlighted progressives’ criticism of Harris’ record as a prosecutor and California attorney general.

She Has Broadly Endorsed the Green New Deal

Indeed, Harris, like Biden, doesn’t support a single-payer health insurance system, and the two are broadly considered part of the Democratic Party’s mainstream. But Harris memorably raised her hand during one Democratic primary debate when candidates were asked whether they could back a system that scrapped private health insurance altogether.

She has broadly endorsed the Green New Deal, progressives’ most ambitious set of proposals to combat the climate crisis, but she didn’t make that an anchor of her presidential bid. Biden has moved left on his climate proposals during the 2020 campaign but has not fully embraced the Green New Deal.

She has broadly endorsed the Green New Deal, progressives’ most ambitious set of proposals to combat the climate crisis, but she didn’t make that an anchor of her presidential bid. Biden has moved left on his climate proposals during the 2020 campaign but has not fully embraced the Green New Deal.

In Washington, Harris has advocated overhauling the criminal justice system, intensifying her efforts since George Floyd’s killing by a white Minneapolis officer in May. And she’s called for sweeping domestic programs to benefit the working and middle class. But she taken heat for some of her aggressive stances as local prosecutor in the San Francisco area and for not prosecuting bank executives in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse.

That mixed record could have unpredictable effects in a national campaign.

Biden bets that, on balance, Harris has broad appeal that will shore up any weaknesses with Black women, an anchor of the Democratic Party, and other voters of colors, while juicing turnout among white liberals and coaxing support from independents and Republican-leaning white voters who have soured on Trump.

Karen Finney, a prominent Black strategist in the Democratic Party, pointed to immediate fundraising success as evidence that Biden’s take on Harris is better than Trump’s. The Biden campaign hauled in almost $11 million in the first four hours after Biden announced his pick.

“We won’t get the visual,” Finney said, referring to the realities of a coronavirus-era campaign. “But you can already feel the energy and excitement.”

The ticket, she said, “makes clear that Biden is serious about having people who like the diversity of our country and our future at the highest decision-making tables. That gives people hope.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

DON'T MISS

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

DON'T MISS

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

DON'T MISS

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

DON'T MISS

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

DON'T MISS

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

DON'T MISS

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

DON'T MISS

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

DON'T MISS

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

DON'T MISS

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

UP NEXT

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

UP NEXT

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

UP NEXT

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

UP NEXT

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

UP NEXT

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

UP NEXT

Eovaldi Outlasts Verlander as Rangers Beat Giants

UP NEXT

Rams Take Oregon Tight End Terrance Ferguson in Second Round After Trading Out of First

UP NEXT

The Latest: Francis Is Remembered as a ‘Pope Among the People’ as He Is Laid to Rest

UP NEXT

Trump Now Doubts Putin Wants to End Ukraine War, a Day After Saying a Deal Was Close

UP NEXT

Virginia Giuffre, Voice in Epstein Sex Trafficking Scandal, Dies at 41

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

13 hours ago

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

13 hours ago

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

16 hours ago

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

17 hours ago

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

17 hours ago

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

17 hours ago

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

17 hours ago

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

17 hours ago

Eovaldi Outlasts Verlander as Rangers Beat Giants

17 hours ago

Rams Take Oregon Tight End Terrance Ferguson in Second Round After Trading Out of First

18 hours ago

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Russia’s escalating bombardment of Ukraine had left him concerned that Russia did not want to end ...

12 hours ago

12 hours ago

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

12 hours ago

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

12 hours ago

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

13 hours ago

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

13 hours ago

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

16 hours ago

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

17 hours ago

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

17 hours ago

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend