Harris says she doesn’t even ‘think’ about whether Biden will run in 2024
Vice President Harris said in a new interview that she hasn’t even given any thought as to whether President Biden will run for reelection in 2024 and reiterated the notion that she and the president do not discuss such future political plans.
“I’m not going to talk about our conversations, but I will tell you this without any ambiguity: We do not talk about nor have we talked about re-election, because we haven’t completed our first year and we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” Harris told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday.
Asked if she assumed Biden would run again in 2024, Harris said, “I’ll be very honest: I don’t think about it, nor have we talked about it.”
Biden’s plans for a potential second term have been a recurring source of uncertainty throughout his first year in office. He was the oldest president ever to be sworn-in during his inauguration ceremony in January, and he would be 81 on Election Day in 2024.
The White House has repeatedly said Biden’s intention is to run for reelection, and allies have indicated he has said as much privately. But that has not stopped speculation from churning about who might replace Biden atop the Democratic ticket should he opt not to run again.
Harris, as vice president, would be well positioned to lead the party. She has previously dismissed talk of 2024, telling ABC in a November interview that the next presidential election year was “absolutely not” being discussed.
But Harris has had her own share of political difficulties. Her portfolio includes contentious issues like voting rights and the root causes of migration, two largely intractable issues that are difficult to address in the short term.
Her interview with the Journal comes on the heels of reporting by multiple outlets that other would-be candidates, like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D), are all unlikely to be scared off of a potential 2024 run by Harris.
In her interview published Thursday, Harris said the administration and Democrats have to better get across to voters how their policies are helping boost Americans through investments in child care, elder care and other economic initiatives.
Updated at 2:57 p.m.