Harris on tense debate with Biden: ‘That’s politics’

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is among the finalists on former Vice President Joe Biden’s list of possible running mates, recently referred to a tense exchange on the debate stage with Biden over busing last year as “just politics.”

The California senator made the remarks during a conversation with former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is on the Biden campaign’s vice presidential selection committee, according to Politico.

“She laughed and said, ‘that’s politics.’ She had no remorse,” Dodd reportedly told an unnamed Biden donor, who relayed the conversation to the outlet.

The exchange between Biden and Harris took place in June of last year. Harris attacked Biden head-on, slamming his civil rights record, specifically on busing. Harris subsequently saw a rise in the polls. 

“Dodd felt it was a gimmick, that it was cheap,” the donor told Politico. 

The same donor told the outlet that Dodd had expressed reservations about Harris, and has helped support Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) during the running mate search. 

The Hill has reached out to Dodd for comment. 

Harris is seen as the favorite in the search for Biden’s running mate. The senator would be the first Black woman and Indian American woman to be nominated on a major party’s presidential ticket. 

Biden is also considering former 2020 rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former President Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice. 

The former vice president is expected to name his running mate in the coming weeks.