Besides Biden, Democrats are divided over who will be next: VP Harris or a ‘mini-primary’

By Associated Press

Saturday, July 20, 2024 | 7:36 PM

WASHINGTON — As Democrats fret over whether President Joe Biden should stay in the 2024 race, unrest is growing within the party over whether his Vice President Kamala Harris should be next in line for the job or whether a “mini-primary” should be quickly launched to choose a new nominee before the party’s convention in August.

Harris hit the campaign trail in windy Provincetown, Massachusetts, on Saturday, drawing a nod from prominent Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who said before the visit that if Biden steps aside, his vice president “is ready to step aside.”

At the event, which organizers said raised $2 million and was attended by 1,000 guests, Harris made no mention of calls for Biden to withdraw from the race or for her to replace him. Instead, she reiterated one of her usual campaign lines: “We’re going to win this election,” she said.

“Do we believe in freedom? Do we believe in equality? Do we believe in the promise of America? Are we willing to fight for it?” she shouted to a cheering crowd. “If we fight, we win.”

But installing Harris at the top of the ticket, which would be a historic moment for the party as it elevates the first woman, a Black person and a person of South Asian descent as its presidential nominee, is far from a sure thing. High-ranking officials, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, favor an open process, which some believe would strengthen any Democratic nominee to take on Republican Donald Trump.

“If you think there is a consensus among the people who want Joe Biden out of office… that they will support Kamala and Vice President Harris, you are mistaken,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a much-discussed social media post this week.

By making deliberations public, Democrats are prolonging an extraordinary moment of uncertainty and upheaval. Biden faces weighty options this weekend that could shape the direction of the country and his party as the nation heads toward the November election.

It creates a stark contrast with Republicans, who after years of bitter and chaotic infighting over Trump are now energetically embracing the former president’s far-right takeover of the GOP, despite his conviction in a hush-money case and pending federal indictment for trying to overturn the 2020 election before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Biden, despite a week of campaign stops, interviews and insistence that he is the best candidate to take on Trump in a rematch, has failed to quell the outcry. Skeptical Democrats doubt he can retain the White House after his failed debate performances last month, and fear he will take with him hopes of party control of Congress.

On Saturday, Rep. Mark Takano, the top Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, added his name to the list of nearly three dozen Democrats in Congress who say it’s time for Biden to leave the race. The California native called on Biden to “pass the torch” to Harris.

More lawmakers are expected to speak out in the coming days. Donors have voiced their concerns.

“There is no joy in recognizing that he should not be our nominee in November,” said Democratic Rep. Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, one of the Democrats pushing for Biden to drop out of the race.

From his beach house in Delaware, Biden, 81, is in isolation after announcing a COVID infection but also has been politically isolated with a small circle of family and close advisers. White House physician Kevin O’Connor said Saturday that Biden’s symptoms were improving but that he was still plagued by a dry cough and hoarseness. He received separate briefings Saturday on domestic and national security issues, the White House said.

The president’s team insisted he is ready to return to the campaign trail next week to push back against what he called a “dark vision” Trump has laid out.

“Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box,” Biden said in a statement Friday.

But outside the enclave of Rehoboth, debate and emotions are mounting.

Few Democratic lawmakers calling for Biden’s removal have mentioned Harris in their statements. Some have even said they favor an open nomination process, in which the party would back a new candidate.

A person familiar with Pelosi’s thinking said that while she is a friend and admirer of the vice president, she believes anyone running for president would be better served by such a process, under the assumption that whoever emerges as a candidate will be strengthened to win the election. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to characterize Pelosi’s thought process.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, a Pelosi ally who has called on Biden to step aside, said Friday on MSNBC that some sort of “mini-primary” in which Harris would participate makes sense.

Democratic Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Peter Welch of Vermont have both called for Biden to withdraw from the race and said they support an open nominating process at the convention.

“If it were open, it would make the eventual nominee stronger,” Welch said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Other Democrats say it would be politically unthinkable to appoint anyone other than Harris, and logistically impractical given that a virtual nomination vote is scheduled for early next month, before the Democratic convention that begins Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota, who has called on Biden to resign, explicitly supported Harris as a replacement.

“To provide Democrats with a strong, viable path to winning the White House, I am calling on President Biden to release his representatives and empower Vice President Harris to step forward and become the Democratic nominee for president,” McCollum said in her statement.

The stalemate over Biden’s political future has become increasingly untenable for the party and its leaders a month before the Democratic National Convention, which should have provided a unifying moment to nominate their incumbent president to take on Trump. Instead, the party finds itself at a crossroads not seen in generations.

It’s unclear what else the president could do to turn the tide and win back lawmakers and Democratic voters wary of his ability to defeat Trump and serve another term.

Biden, who sent a defiant letter to congressional Democrats vowing to stay in the race, has yet to visit Capitol Hill to drum up support. Senators and representatives have noted his absence.

The president has held a series of virtual talks with various factions over the past week, some of which ended badly.

AP reporters Mary Clare Jalonick, Seung Min Kim, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.