Republicans have featured Vice President Kamala Harris prominently in their attacks on the Biden administration at this week’s convention in Milwaukee, a sign that they believe President Biden could still step aside and elevate her to the top of the ticket.
But the movement among Democrats to persuade Biden to drop out of the race has been muted, largely because of the attention former President Trump has received following Saturday's assassination attempt.
“You’re not hearing anything,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist. “That says it all.”
Democrats who believe Biden, 81, is too politically weak to compete against Trump or will not be able to complete a second term remain active behind the scenes. But the shift in public momentum that some had hoped would emerge on Sunday and Monday of this week was thwarted by the assassination attempt, which caused a lull in political activity, and the announcement on Monday that Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance would be Trump’s running mate, which created another distraction that kept public attention on Trump.
The timing is crucial because Biden is trying to run out the clock, making it difficult for another candidate to take his place. Democrats appear to be moving forward with a plan to formally re-nominate the president at the end of the month through a virtual process, ahead of the Aug. 19 Democratic National Convention. Several Democratic lawmakers are urging the party to wait until the convention to give themselves more time.
Biden was in Las Vegas, where his events on Tuesday included a speech at the NAACP national convention in which he denounced the cost of gun violence and criticized Trump for his response to the George Floyd protests.
“Let me ask you: Are you fully committed? Because I am fully committed,” he told a cheering audience at the end of his half-hour speech, pointing two thumbs at his chest.
On Monday, he gave a nationally televised interview, where he again insisted that he would not consider dropping out of the race, a decision that is entirely his own.
“I call it fantasy football,” said Donna Brazile, a former Democratic Party chairwoman who remains influential. “Joe Biden is not going anywhere.”
Republicans are taking no chances during their convention, which runs into Thursday night. Many of the speeches during Monday’s opening night featured Harris (some mispronouncing her given name as Ka-MAL-a) as Biden’s partner in government. One video, for example, attacked the “Biden-Harris open border disaster.” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., blamed “Joe and Kamala, bless them” for high gas prices, plans to tax small-business owners and increased IRS enforcement.
“Their regulations are not just burdensome. They often include racist DEI requirements,” she said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion hiring programs, a popular target of the right.
The attacks on Harris as Biden’s powerful governing partner have a ring of irony because Republicans have long argued that she has been ineffective as Biden’s surrogate and often excluded from decision-making — impressions that have stuck with many activists and voters.
“I don’t think he has the seriousness to do it,” said Nancy DeLuna, a longtime Republican delegate from Palm Desert. “He’s not capable of running a government and I don’t think he has the confidence of even his own party.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) speaks Monday night at the Republican National Convention.
(Matt Rourke/Associated Press)
Democratic debates over Harris as a possible replacement — and over whether there was a way to open up the field of potential successors — had been fairly public for more than two weeks, since Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump in which he showed signs of decline. About 20 Democratic lawmakers had called on Biden to step aside as of last Friday. But there were no new calls over the weekend, and public debate all but shut down after Saturday’s shooting at a Pennsylvania rally that wounded Trump in the ear and left one audience member dead in addition to the shooter. Two other people were also injured.
An aide to a Democratic lawmaker who had publicly urged Biden to step aside said Tuesday that his boss was no longer making media appearances, though he insisted that “efforts continue.” Several Democrats said it would be churlish to have such a debate in public, in part because Biden needed to show the country he was willing to help tone down political rhetoric and address the security failure that allowed the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, to carry out the attack.
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention voted in June before the debate to hold a virtual vote before the convention to meet a voting deadline in Ohio that has since been postponed. The rules committee, a powerful group of party insiders, will decide Friday when the virtual vote will be held, which will likely take place within the next two weeks.
But Democratic lawmakers are circulating a letter urging the party to wait.
“Proceeding with the ‘virtual list’ without a valid legal justification will rightly be perceived as a purely political manoeuvre, which we believe would be counterproductive and undermine the unity and cohesion of the party,” said the letter, which was seen by The Times. As of Tuesday evening, it had not yet been sent.
Jamal Simmons, Harris’s former communications director, attributed Biden’s more aggressive public agenda since the debate to gaining confidence from some critics and demonstrating that “he’s the best person to be president today.” But he added that the movement to urge him to drop out of the race has only been on pause, even if that pause has helped Biden.
“There are still questions about whether he is the best person to run for president for the next four years, but fewer people are asking that question today than they were a week ago,” he said.
Polls continue to worry many Democrats, including a YouGov poll released Monday that showed Trump leading by 2 to 7 percentage points in seven key states, including Arizona, where he held a 7-point advantage.
Biden was dismissive during his Monday interview with NBC host Lester Holt, insisting that “it’s essentially a contested race” as he listed his accomplishments in his first term. Holt concluded his interview by asking Biden what he would do if he had another episode like his debate performance. Biden responded inaudibly at first.
“I don't think I'll ever perform at that level again,” he said.
Seema Mehta, Times staff writer In Milwaukee contributed to this report.
