For Vice President Kamala Harris, the first general election debate of 2024 turned up the intensity of an already glaring spotlight.
Within minutes of the end of the debate, during which President Joe Biden fumbled to the point of driving open debate among Democrats over whether he should be replaced at the top of the ticket, Harris was defending his record on CNN.
“It was a slow start. That’s obvious to everyone,” she told an unusually aggressive Anderson Cooper. “I’m not going to debate that point. I’m talking about the choice in November. I’m talking about one of the most important elections in our collective lifetime. And do we want to look at what November will bring and go on a course for America that is about a destruction of democracy?”
Harris’s swift defense of Biden underscored the growing role she has played in advancing his agenda, both at official events but also as a surrogate on the campaign trail. Yet it also drew greater focus and attention on Harris herself. She is a possible successor to Biden in 2028 and is next in the line of presidential succession should he be deemed unfit for office.
Democratic operatives suggested Biden should withdraw his name so another candidate can run against former President Donald Trump in November, while Republicans, gloating over his shaky performance, said that Harris should take over as president.
“If he were CEO and he turned in a performance like that, would any corporation in America, any Fortune 500 corporation in America keep him on as CEO?” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said following the debate.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a Republican, filed a resolution calling on Harris to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Harris, like Biden, suffers from low approval ratings, prompting Democrats in the “replace Biden” camp to look at political heavyweights including Govs. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI).
It has been speculated that Harris’s weak polling numbers are the reason that Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, chose to run for reelection at all, especially after implying in 2020 that he would not do so.
Yet at the same time, Biden has, in many instances, prepared the way for Harris to succeed him, often referring to the Biden-Harris administration when touting the accomplishments of their term and beefing up her domestic and foreign policy credentials, including with trips abroad.
“Unfortunately for her, she is always held to a higher standard than anybody else before her because she’s a woman, because she’s black, et cetera,” Colorado-based Democratic strategist Michael Stratton said. “But I’m not worried about Kamala Harris’s performance. She’s a tough cookie.”
Senior Democrats have so far resisted calls for Biden to step aside, at least publicly. Meanwhile, the president cut a defiant figure during a Friday rally in North Carolina, where he made the case for his reelection while openly acknowledging his frequent stumbles were due to his age.
“I don’t walk as easily as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth,” Biden told a raucous crowd of supporters.
But the failing grade Biden earned has naturally brought Harris, 59, to the front of conversation if pressure on the president to step down does materialize.
“There will be more scrutiny on Harris, but I think she knows her stuff quite well,” Stratton said.
While many Republicans might relish the opportunity to campaign directly or indirectly against Harris, GOP strategist John Feehery says she shouldn’t be underestimated.
“I think Harris might be more formidable than people think, especially with abortion being one of the top issues of the campaign,” he said. “I wouldn’t write her off completely. Obviously she has some real weaknesses, but so does Trump.”
Harris’s favorability rating is a historically low 39.2%, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. However, that figure is just 1 percentage point below her boss’s 40.6% approval in polls that were taken before the debate.
The vice president spent all of Friday on the campaign trail herself, leaving her Los Angeles home on Air Force Two for a rally in Las Vegas, followed by one in Salt Lake City, and then back to LA for a third rally before turning in for the night.
Despite strong pushback from Cooper, Harris unequivocally defended Biden in the moments following the debate.
“Yes, there was a slow start,” she acknowledged. “But it was a strong finish. Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people on substance, on policy, on performance. Joe Biden is extraordinarily strong, and that cannot be debated.”
Democratic strategist Tom Cochran made a similar point, which is that where Biden stands on the issues matters more than whether he stumbled against Trump in a 90-minute, unscripted debate.
“It was bad timing to have an off day for Biden, and I think it’s important to acknowledge the weakness of his performance,” said Cochran, a partner at 720 Strategies. “Let’s also acknowledge that he has a day job of being president of the United States, which means he doesn’t have a lot of free time to prep. The good news is that most people watching the debate are already in one camp or the other.”
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As far as the vice president goes, Cochran said he has full confidence in her.
“I think Harris’s answers demonstrated her understanding that the spotlight is going to heavily shine on her,” he said, “and she’s rising to the occasion.”
