Vice President — and sudden frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination — Kamala Harris reported to a crowd at the White House today that President Biden, waylaid by COVID last week in Las Vegas, is on the road to recovery and feeling better.
In that sense, Biden has never more perfectly represented the Democratic Party — because the entire Party appears to be feeling better after the President announced on Sunday that he would step aside in his re-election bid and endorse Harris.
Harris praised Biden profusely to the crowd gathered in Washington for NCAA Sports Day, asserting “Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history.”
.@VP: “Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the past 3 years is UNMATCHED in modern history.” pic.twitter.com/ZaWBfL0hOv
— Herbie Ziskend (@HerbieZiskend46) July 22, 2024
The former Senator and prosecutor, whose backers are counting on her to bring prosecutorial zeal to the campaign trail (and the debate stage), also revealed that it was through her work as Attorney General of California that she first came to know the Biden family.
The President’s late son Beau Biden was the Attorney General of Delaware during the time Harris held her AG position. (Biden was the AG of Delaware from 2007 until 2015, the year he died of glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain cancer.)
“I first came to know President Biden through his son Beau. We worked together as Attorneys General in our states,” Harris said. “And back then he would often tell me stories about his Dad — he would talk about the kind of father and the kind of man that Joe Biden is. The qualities that Beau revered in his father are the same qualities that I have seen every day in our President.”
Biden’s announcement and Harris’s elevation immediately altered the political landscape, changing the calculus of both campaigns and adding vigor to the Democrats’ fight against the GOP’s Trump 2.0 ambitions. The change also reinvigorated, at first glance, Democratic donors. After Biden’s endorsement, Harris raised an astonishing $100 million in 24 hours.