Kamala Harris Plans On Running With Biden In 2024, Despite Low Popularity

Topline

Vice President Kamala Harris said she plans to run as President Joe Biden’s running mate in 2024, in an interview with NBC News on Friday, despite maintaining a low popularity and amid criticism that Biden is too old for another term in the White House.

Key Facts

When asked by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell about concerns from Democrats about a Biden-Harris ticket, Harris said Biden has made it clear he “intends to run for re-election and I intend to run with him as vice president.”

Harris, who would become president if Biden died in office, also dismissed criticism of her and Biden as “political chatter.”

The vice president’s approval rating, however, has remained low for the majority of her first two years in the White House, reaching 40.5% as of last week, according to FiveThirtyEight—slightly above her lowest rating of 36.9% last November.

Opinions of Harris have also sunk among major Democratic fundraisers, including former President Bill Clinton’s Florida finance chairman John Morgan, who told the New York Times he “can’t think of one thing she’s done except stay out of the way.”

Other Democratic leaders speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Washington Post Harris has been “underwhelming” as vice president, lacking communication skills and appearing nearly invisible.

Tangent

Most Democrats aren’t sold on the idea of four more years of Biden, either, according to an Associated Press-NORC poll released last month, which found only 37% of Democrats want him to seek a second term, down from 52% last October. Biden—the oldest president in U.S. history—would be 86 at the end of his second term, if he is re-elected in 2024. That point has not been lost on Republicans. Earlier this week, GOP nominee Nikki Haley called for a “new generation” of political leaders, and on Friday argued in a tweet that politicians ages 75 and older should release their results on cognitive tests in addition to physical tests—also calling out former President Donald Trump, who at 76 has also announced his bid for his second term.

Key Background

Harris, a former California Attorney General and U.S. Senator who unsuccessfully ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic Primaries, made history as the first woman, African American and Asian American elected vice president. Her time in office, however, has been marred by a lack of visibility. She has also faced complaints from within her office over a high rate of turnover, with one former staffer telling the Washington Post she fostered a toxic workplace culture and that employees would “put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism.”

Further Reading

Kamala Harris Is Trying to Define Her Vice Presidency. Even Her Allies Are Tired of Waiting. (New York Times)

Former Gov. Nikki Haley Launches Presidential Run—She’s First To Challenge Trump (Forbes)

Kamala Harris: ‘I intend to run’ with Biden in 2024 (NBC News)