Vice President Kamala Harris’ allies are privately discussing what her candidacy would look like if President Joe Biden drops out of the race for the White House and how they might help her after Biden’s disastrous debate performance on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter .
Those conversations were conducted through phone calls and text messages between some people who raised money for the vice president during her failed 2020 Democratic primary campaign against Biden and other candidates, said the people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about private conversations.
Among the key questions is whether Harris would control the vast Biden-Harris campaign war chest, which is being managed by Biden’s team, if the president were to drop out of the race.
Harris has emerged as the early favorite to succeed the president at the top of the slate, but that doesn’t guarantee there won’t be more contenders and potentially a messy battle for the nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago.
Harris would likely have the keys to most of the money, according to Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who acknowledged the rules during a recent phone call with party donors. Biden’s campaign began in June with $91 million in cash on hand, Federal Election Commission records show. The entire political operation, which includes Biden’s joint fundraising committees, began with $240 million in July, according to the campaign.
There is also discussion among Harris confidants about the need to begin planning for the vice president to meet with some of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors if Biden leaves office, these people said.
Harris’ allies have urged other donors and party officials to reconsider the potential benefits the vice president’s policy portfolio could bring to a Democratic campaign platform: her focus on reproductive rights, her outreach to Black voters and marginalized communities and her February remarks in Germany , as she emphasized the strength of U.S. support for Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion, according to a person familiar with the engagement.
Some of Harris’ former fundraisers are also sending each other an old one-minute video showing the vice president competing against candidates appointed by former President Donald Trump during her time as a U.S. senator, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. It shows clips of Harris taking on the likes of former attorneys general Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions and then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The video also underscores a key message: Harris’ willingness to stand up to Trump’s allies shows that she has what it takes to take on the former president. “Kamala takes on Trump one-on-one and will use her spine, values and experience as a prosecutor to expose Trump,” a spokesperson said in the ad.
The video was produced for a political action committee called People Standing Strong, which was never fully activated as Harris dropped out in 2019 shortly after it was founded. The PAC reportedly reserved nearly $300,000 worth of advertising in the key state of Iowa, but the ads did not air because Harris dropped out before the state’s caucuses.
A White House spokeswoman for Harris and Biden campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.
Before Thursday’s debate, it was unthinkable for Democrats to discuss what Harris might need to win a fight for the nomination in the convention, as Biden struggled to make the case for re-election and failed to win to prevail against Trump.
Biden’s poor performance in the debate significantly shifted the mood among donors, with many privately discussing the need for the president to resign to give the party the best chance of beating Trump in November.
The donors who sent around the video, for example, have been “all just confused, scared and sad” since the debate, said a longtime strategist close to many of California’s top fundraisers. “They really want to defeat Trump.”
Dmitri Mehlhorn, a longtime adviser to Democratic donors including tech investor Reid Hoffman, said in an email to allies shared with CNBC on Wednesday that while Harris continues to support Biden, he believes Harris is a solid alternative to embrace and could possibly defeat Trump.
“Let me be clear: Vice President Harris is a badass. A ticket with her at the helm, combined with someone to make up for her brand deficiencies (examples range from Mark Kelly to Andy Beshear to Roy Cooper to Josh Shapiro and many others) would absolutely do the trick. “We need to be competitive with the mentally ill convicted felon be the person the other side has committed to nominating,” Mehlhorn wrote. “We would lose Joe’s superpower brand, but we would gain other advantages and would still be competitive.”
Biden’s team has said the president is not giving up the race. Meanwhile, Harris appears to have remained loyal and is expected to have lunch with the president at the White House on Wednesday.
Despite his team’s public pledge that he would not drop out, The New York Times and CNN reported Wednesday that Biden had privately signaled to an ally that he might not be able to save his candidacy.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates vehemently denied the story in a social media post. CNBC and NBC News have not independently confirmed the conversation.
Harris defended the president’s debate performance on Tuesday before a group of her former donors in San Francisco.
The event was held at the home of real estate executive Susan Lowenberg, and the crowd included Harris donors from when she was running for San Francisco district attorney, according to the pool report.
“We have to fight, and we know how to fight,” Harris told the crowd. “If we fight, we win.”
Since the debate, there has been a growing chorus of party donors, most of whom have spoken privately, and a few lawmakers who have spoken publicly, who are questioning whether Biden is up to the task of being president for another four years, and whether he There is no question of whether it is right for him to be nominated as the party’s candidate in November.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, on Tuesday became the first Democratic member of Congress to call on Biden to resign.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Calif., both longtime Biden allies, said in interviews on MSNBC that it was fair for voters to ask about Biden’s health status about his debate performance .
“I think it’s a fair question to say, ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?'” Pelosi said in the interview, noting that the question should be asked of both Biden and Trump.
Polls have shown a mixed message for Biden since the debate.
A CNN poll shows Trump leading Biden by six percentage points nationally, which is identical to the network’s national poll in April.
But 75% of respondents say someone other than Biden would have a better chance of beating Trump than Biden.
Harris’ stock is also rising in online betting pools about who will be the Democratic presidential nominee.
PredictIt, which allows people to place bets on political events, now places the vice president just behind Biden.
Before the debate, PredictIt put her chances of becoming the party’s nominee this year so far behind Biden that she trailed the likes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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2024-07-03 17:27:20
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