Vice President Kamala Harris and the president Joe Biden She is co-chairing a campaign event in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday (September 2, 2024), as Ms Harris presents herself as “a new way forward” while remaining fiercely loyal to Mr Biden and the policies he has pushed forward.
The pair will attend Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade and offer some remarks, marking the first time the two have spoken together on a political stage since the surprise electoral reshuffle that dealt a fresh blow to Democratic enthusiasm for the 2024 election.
Harris’s campaign has said Pennsylvania voters have been reinvigorated since Ms Harris came out on top six weeks ago, with thousands of new volunteers signing up to campaign for her and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee. The appearance of Ms Harris and Mr Biden at the parade, one of the largest such gatherings in the country, is part of a blowout win in the battleground state just two months before election day.
Ms Harris, 59, has sought to attract voters by distancing herself from toxic politics, rejecting the strident rhetoric of her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, as well as moving on from the Mr Biden era. However, while her performance may be very different from Mr Biden’s, Ms Harris’s agenda is filled with many of the same issues he has advocated for: capping the price of prescription drugs, the Affordable Care Act, the economy and helping families afford child care.
“We fight for a future where we build an opportunity economy so every American has the opportunity to buy a home, start a business and build wealth and intergenerational wealth. And a future where we lower the cost of living for America,” she said at a recent rally, reiterating Mr Biden’s call to grow the economy “from the bottom up and from the middle up”. Ms Harris briefly appeared on stage with Mr Biden after the president delivered his remarks on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention last month, but the two have not shared a microphone at a political event since Mr Biden himself began running for office. At the time, the campaign was using Ms Harris mostly as its main spokeswoman for abortion rights, an issue it thinks could help it win in November as restrictions grow and health care for women deteriorates following the collapse of Roe v Wade.
Since the ticket swap, the two have been seen together at official events and have also met at the White House.
For more than 3 1/2 years, Ms. Harris has been one of Mr. Biden’s chief validators. Now that has changed, as Ms. Harris is relying on Mr. Biden — a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania — to help him win potentially pivotal states. Mr. Biden, for his part, has been quiet since ending his reelection campaign. He was last at the White House on Aug. 19 and has been vacationing in Southern California and Delaware since then.
But Ms Harris has stood firmly with Mr Biden even after he took on the responsibility of leading the Democratic Party. In the first interview of her candidacy, Ms Harris strongly defended Mr Biden’s record and ability to get the job done, even though the events of the past two months have left her running for the Oval Office and Mr Biden a lame duck.
The 81-year-old president stepped down in July after a poor performance in a debate with Trump and there were calls within his own party that he should make way for a new generation. Ms Harris and Mr Trump will debate on September 10.
“He cares deeply about the American people. He’s very smart and he’s loyal to the American people. And I’ve spent hours with him, whether it’s in the Oval Office or the Situation Room. He has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment and the temperament that I think the American people deserve in their president,” he said in last week’s interview.
She said of Mr Trump: “On the contrary, the former president has none of that.” Ms Harris said during CNN In the interview he said working with Mr Biden was “the greatest honour of my career”, and he recalled the moment Biden called him to tell him he was stepping down.
“He told me what he had decided to do and… I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ and he said, ‘Yes’, and that’s how I found out about it.” The vice president said she did not need to ask Mr Biden for support because “he was very clear he was going to support me”. Ms Harris has also defended the administration’s record on the southern border and immigration, one of the administration’s most persistent and vexing problems. She explains that she was tasked with addressing the “root causes” in other countries that were driving the border crossings, although Republicans have tagged her as the “border czar”. “We have laws that must be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there must be consequences,” Ms Harris said.
Although Ms. Harris has spoken more forcefully about the plight of civilians in Gaza as Israel’s war against Hamas there approaches its 11th month, the vice president has also supported Mr. Biden’s efforts to arm Israel and bring about a hostage agreement and a ceasefire.
Israel said on Sunday (September 1, 2024) morning that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages taken during Hamas’ October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The revelation prompted thousands of Israelis to take to the streets to protest and demand a ceasefire agreement.
Ms Harris will join Mr Biden in the Situation Room on Monday (September 2, 2024) and meet with the US hostage deal negotiation team to discuss their continued efforts on a deal that will secure the release of the remaining hostages.