Harris, a California senator who has built a national following as a leading combatant against the Trump administration, has been seen as a likely Biden VP even before he started running. More than a year later, despite a campaign that didn’t even make it to the first nominating contests, Harris still appears to be in the pole position for the post: Interviews with more than four dozen elected officials, strategists, former Biden advisers and plugged-in donors said they think Harris is the closest Biden has to a “do no harm” option.
And people in three other competing camps privately said that while their candidates have a shot for VP, Harris is more likely to get the nod.
Yet with Biden set to make his decision as soon as the beginning of August, there are still hang-ups over Harris — largely over the matter of trust.
Former high-ranking Democratic Party officials and elected officials have expressed concerns about her to the vetting committee in recent weeks, according to four sources who’ve spoken to the Biden vetting team.
The interviews for this article revealed a contingent of Democrats who are lobbying against Harris for VP — some privately, some openly. Several California Democrats who spoke to Biden’s vetting team have shared glowing reviews of Bass, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus and a former state Assembly speaker. Others touted Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who earned a Purple Heart in combat, and former national security adviser Susan Rice, whom they came to know though her connections to Stanford University in the Bay Area.
“I don’t think Kamala Harris has it in the bag,” said former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), reacting to the dozens of Democrats who believe Harris is the likely pick. Reid, who speaks frequently with Dodd, met with Harris recently and said he thinks highly of her.
It’s difficult to overstate the bad blood that flowed between the Harris and Biden campaigns immediately after that June 2019 debate. Harris opened her attack on Biden by saying, “I know you’re not a racist.” She then accused Biden of giving segregationist senators a pass and opposing a federal busing program in the 1970s that integrated schools she attended as a child. “That little girl was me,” she said.
The campaign quickly branded the phrase on T-shirts and boasted about its preparations for what became Harris’ big moment. Eventually, however, Biden gained the upper hand when Harris admitted she had essentially the same view on busing as he did.
A contingent of Bay Area donors has publicly endorsed Duckworth, snubbing their home-state senator. They include Susie Buell, who was early to endorse Harris’ presidential run but drifted from her campaign to also back Pete Buttigieg in the primary, and attorney Joe Cotchett, a Biden loyalist who was a major fundraiser for Barack…
Read More:‘She had no remorse’: Why Kamala Harris isn’t a lock for VP
