President Joe Biden has confirmed that he plans to keep Vice President Kamala Harris on the ticket in 2024, following rumors of tensions between the pair.
‘Yes and yes,’ Biden responded at his press conference on Wednesday when asked whether he was satisfied with Harris’ work on voting rights and if he could ‘guarantee’ to keep her as a running mate.
Pressed to elaborate, Biden said: ‘There’s no need to, I answered the question.’
‘She’s going to be my running mate, number one,’ he said. ‘And number two, I did put her in charge. I think she’s doing a good job.’
President Joe Biden has confirmed that he plans to keep Vice President Kamala Harris on the ticket in 2024, following rumors of tensions between the pair
In recent months, reports have suggested tensions between the vice president’s office and the West Wing
In recent months, reports have suggested tensions between the vice president’s office and the West Wing.
Rumors have even circulated among Beltway insiders that the president is considering nominating Harris to the Supreme Court as a backdoor method of selecting a new running mate.
Harris has battled mounting reports that her office is in disarray, and that her team is frustrated at being handed ‘no-win’ tasks that don’t suit her skillset, such as tackling the ‘root causes’ of migration behind the recent border crisis.
At the same time, Biden’s staff are reportedly privately disappointed with Harris over self-inflicted controversies, like her ‘awkward’ laughter when asked about visiting the border by NBC’s Lester Holt.
They are said to blame her perceived failure on the border crisis for Biden’s sliding poll numbers.
The latest Gallup poll found Biden had only 40 percent approval, with 54 percent dissatisfied with his performance.
Harris has also suffered plunging approval ratings since taking office, threatening what would normally be an easy path to the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, or 2024 if Biden decides not to seek re-election at age 81.
A recent Economist/YouGov poll found Harris had an unfavorable rating of 54 percent, with only 39 percent approving of her performance.
Harris is also grappling with a slew of reports painting her as a workplace bully and and her office losing seven staffers since the disastrous border trip on June 25.
Her director of press operations Peter Velz was the latest to confirm he is leaving his role with the White House.
Velz’s announcement comes in the midst of a staff exodus following reports the vice president is a ‘bully’ who facilitates a toxic work environment and other reports indicate tensions between the president’s staff and Harris’.
‘Today is my last day at the White House, and it truly has been an honor,’ Velz tweeted on Wednesday. ‘I will be forever grateful to Vice President Harris, the incredible Team @VP, and I’m so proud of our work this past year supporting this historic Administration.’
Velz’s next job will start later this month at the State Department’s Protocol team where Velz says he will still support President Joe Biden and Harris in their meetings with foreign leaders, delegations and international travel.
His announcement comes the day after fellow staffer Vince Evans confirmed his departure from the vice president’s office to replace Kyle Anderson as executive director with the Congressional Black Caucus.
At the end of December, Harris’ chief spokesperson Symone Sanders left her post.
It followed the departure of Ashley Etienne, Harris’ former communications director, who left in November.
In the aftermath of Harris’ botched Central America and border trip, reports emerged that two other aides were eyeing the exits. Harris’ former director of advance Karly Satkowiak and deputy director of advance Gabrielle DeFranceschi departed shortly after the trip in June.
Staffers on the VP’s advance team are responsible for planning all of her trips, surveying venues for her to visit and working with local officials to prepare venues for media coverage.
At the time of Satkowiak’s and DeFranceschi’s departure from Harris’ team it was not clear why they were leaving – but it did fuel further rumors of workplace tensions.
Rajan Kaur who was Harris’ director of digital strategies left her staff in July after opting not to relocate to Washington D.C. from Brooklyn.
Both Harris and Biden have vehemently denied that there is any tension between them, denying reports that are mostly based on the accounts of anonymous staffers.
Both Harris and Biden have vehemently denied that there is any tension between them, denying reports that are mostly based on the accounts of anonymous staffers
The White House went full throat with their defense of her after a CNN report claimed Biden was distancing himself from Harris because of her sliding poll numbers, while the vice president is said to have felt isolated and frustrated with being given some of the most difficult issues for the administration in her portfolio.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain tweeted Harris is an ‘incredible leader’ and Psaki argued Harris receives more criticism because of her status as a woman of color.
Harris is the country’s first female vice president and the first vice president of color.
The president has publicly said he intends to run again, although pundits say that announcing he intends to step down after a single term would turn him into a lame duck leader.
But there has been anonymous chatter among Democrats that, if he does, he should consider replacing Harris.
There’s additional speculation that if he doesn’t run again, Harris would not be the strongest contender to replace him. Some have suggested Buttigieg would be a better candidate for the nomination.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll at the end of 2021 showed the transportation secretary with a higher favorability rating than both Biden and Harris – whom he led by 12 points.
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