Harris says she is ‘ready to lead’ as fears grow over Biden health
KAMALA HARRIS has said she is “ready to serve” amid growing questions over the age and health of Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The vice-president, 59, insisted she would be ready to step into the 81-yearold president’s shoes should the need arise. “I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that,” she told The Wall Street Journal.
The comments will add fuel to the debate raging in the US about what the Democrats would do if Mr Biden were forced to step down before this year’s election for health reasons.
Longstanding concerns over Mr Biden’s age and mental acuity were brought into sharp focus last week after the president was described as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” in an independent report into mishandling of classified documents.
Special counsel Robert Hur said Mr Biden’s memory was so poor, he struggled to recall when he was vice-president or when his son Beau had died. The Biden administration has rejected the description of the president.
Interviewed two days before the publication of the Hur report, Ms Harris told the WSJ that anyone who sees her at work “walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead”.
Democrat officials said there was no discussion about replacing Mr Biden as a candidate to lead the party into the election in November.
If he did withdraw, Ms Harris would have to gain delegates through the primary election system or enough support for a presidential ticket through the party’s national committee.
However, her own approval rating has been struggling. According to opinion poll website Fivethirtyeight, 53.5 per cent of voters disapprove of the vice-president, suggesting she is more unpopular than Mr Biden.
Her tenure has been difficult – last year an NBC survey found she was the most unpopular vice-president since polling began.
There were reports of tension between Ms Harris and the president and her image was further damaged by a raft of high-profile departures during her first year in office. Ms Harris also faced criticism over her handling of the border crisis, with Eric Adams, New York’s mayor, complaining she had too much in her portfolio.
In recent months the White House has sought to boost her profile. In particular, she has led the administration’s defence of abortion rights, an issue identified by Democrat strategists as a vote winner after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
She has also had to run the gauntlet of pro-palestinian protesters who have been out in force at her meetings since the Gaza war erupted.
“Many Democrats are conflicted about Kamala Harris being on the ticket,” said David Gergen, who served as an adviser to presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
“They recognise that, by traditional standards, she has earned a place on the ticket. They also fear that dropping her would cause a firestorm in the black community.
“But they think leaving her on the ticket could be at least as hazardous. Given Biden’s age, this election is shaping up as a referendum on Harris as well as Biden. In their eyes, that is more weight than the sled will carry,” Mr Gergen added.