New Orleans.- As President Joe Biden tries to revive his embattled re-election bid, Vice President Kamala Harris led a parade of African American Democrats warning Saturday that the threat of another Donald Trump presidency remains the most important calculation heading into November.
Yet in more than 20 minutes on stage at the Essence Culture Festival, Harris failed to acknowledge Biden’s dismal debate performance or calls for the 81-year-old president to end his reelection bid. In fact, she barely mentioned Biden at all — in stark contrast to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who vigorously and repeatedly defended the president by name.
“This is probably the most important election of our lifetime,” Harris said, before speaking of Trump musing about being a dictator, pushing the Supreme Court to the right and promising retaliation against political enemies. “In 122 days, each of us has the power to decide what kind of country we want to live in.”
Harris’ appearance at the country’s largest annual celebration of African-American culture underscores how difficult it is for the White House and the campaign to navigate questions about the president’s fitness. The dynamic is especially fraught for Harris, the first African-American woman and person of South Asian descent elected vice president, and for the African-American Democrats who did so much to elect her and Biden in 2020.
On the one hand, Harris plays the traditional role of loyal lieutenant, a job she did with enthusiasm — and on the fly — in television appearances immediately after Biden’s lackluster debate ended. If Biden were to ultimately decide to step aside as presumptive nominee, however, she would be among the favorites, if not the favorite, to carry the Democratic flag against Trump.
African American leaders and voters who gathered in New Orleans, meanwhile, walked the line Saturday between backing Biden and insisting that if he ends his campaign, the party should elevate the barrier-breaking vice president rather than consider governors like Gavin Newsom of California or Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, both white.
“The purpose of a vice president is to be a No. 2, to be able to step in,” said Glynda Carr, who runs the political action organization Higher Heights, which works to elect more African-American women. “If this was an all-white male ticket, would we be talking about other people with less experience, less qualifications?”
Antjuan Seawright, an African-American Democratic consultant close to Biden ally Rep. Jim Clyburn, put it more bluntly. “Joe Biden isn’t going anywhere,” he said. But if he does, “anyone other than Kamala would be malpractice, and it would tear the party apart.”
Seawright argued that the pressure on Biden to step aside is so far coming only from white Democrats, at least publicly. She said that divide is mostly about African American voters’ trust in Biden and their recognition of his record. But it’s also about what’s good for the party as a whole, including African American politicians. Risking a contested convention — even one that nominates Harris — could ensure widespread losses and, in turn, make it less likely than ever to see House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries become speaker of the House or Harris or another African American woman sit in the Oval Office.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and her colleagues echoed some of those sentiments.
“People say Joe Biden is too old. Hell, I’m older than Biden!” the 85-year-old congresswoman said. “It’s not going to be any other Democratic candidate, and we better know that.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio, highlighted the power Harris already has.
“We have an African-American vice president of the United States of America, a sister who has come here today to be with us,” she said. “So let’s make no mistake. I know who I’m voting for. I’m with the Biden-Harris team, because we’re going to continue to have a sister in the White House fighting for us and making a difference.”
Waters said Biden’s support for African American communities and contrast to Trump should be enough. She called the former president “a worthless, lying, despicable human being” with a white nationalist agenda. “Who the hell does he think he’s going after?” Waters asked, pointing to Trump’s support from groups like the Proud Boys. “You know he means business.”
In more than a dozen interviews with Essence attendees, opinions varied about Biden’s strength as a candidate and his abilities to serve another four years. But there was clear consensus on several points: Only Biden can decide his fate; if he steps aside, he should back Harris; and defeating Trump is the top priority.
“I’m with him, absolutely,” said Erica Peterson of New Orleans. “He’s delivered, and a debate isn’t going to change my mind. … And if it’s not Joe Biden, I’m with her.”
Star Robert, a 37-year-old nurse from New York, said that if there is a flip, then Biden and Democrats could not credibly pick anyone but Harris, given that the president, the party and voters have already chosen her as second on the ticket. Still, she was skeptical about Harris’s prospects.
“I’m not sure she’s done enough to build the trust of enough voters,” Robert said. “I don’t know if it’s her fault, I just haven’t seen her enough, we haven’t seen her. I don’t know what her point of view is.”
Regardless, Robert added: “I’m not sure the country is ready for another African-American president, and if we were ready for a woman, Hillary Clinton would have beaten the clown (Trump) the first time he ran.”
Harris, for her part, responded to that kind of skepticism even as she studiously avoided the immediate drama of the campaign.
“Ambition is a good thing. We don’t need to walk quietly,” she said of being a woman of color in powerful circles. “People in your life will tell you it’s not your time. It’s not your turn. No one like you has ever done it before. … I like to say that I eat ‘no’ for breakfast.”
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