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Biden says Kamala Harris could be the next president… Here's what she is doing to reboot her image after her disastrous first three years
President Joe Biden likes to tease the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming president one day, and she's furiously working to revamp her imagine with voters to garner support for a future run.
Biden has teased a future presidential bid for Kamala at several public events in recent weeks.
‘No doubt that a Morehouse man will be president one day, just after an AKA from Howard,’ Biden said during his commencement speech last week referring to Harris, a Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority graduate of Howard University.
As the crowd chuckled and applauded, Biden added, ‘She’s tough, guys.’
It's a familiar rhetorical aside for Biden, who likes to appeal to a broad audiences.
Biden was similarly self-deprecating during a White House reception to celebrate Asian heritage month
President Joe Biden likes to tease the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming president one day, and she's furiously working to revamp her imagine with voters to garner support for a future run
‘I asked her to be my vice president because I knew I needed somebody smarter than me,’ he said, after telling the crowd that ‘I work for Kamala Harris.’
On his bad days, Biden actually slips and refers to Harris as the president of the United States during public events as he has done at least eight times as president.
During the state visit from the Kenyan president, Biden referred to Harris as ‘the nation’s first black vice president, President Kamala Harris.’
At an event in November honoring the Vegas Golden Knights for winning the Stanley Cup, Biden said emphatically, ‘President Harris is here to make sure we do this the right way.’
Biden has teased a future presidential bid for Kamala at several public events in recent weeks
In March 2023 in a speech about immigration, Biden proudly turned to her and praised, ‘President Harris’ for her help on the migrant crisis by leading the ‘effort to make things better in the countries from which they are leaving.’
While the timeline for Harris' next step in her political career is still unclear, what remains very clear is that Harris wants to be the next president of the United States.
Harris could take the job as an immediate successor to Biden, 81, if he can’t finish his first or second term or run herself, if the president beats the odds and survives two terms.
For Democrats, it's clear that for Harris to have a political future, she has to get Joe Biden across the finish line in November or face a sudden catastrophic end to her political career.
The Race to Reboot Kamala Harris
Harris is doing the work. She’s already made nearly two dozen trips to important swing states. Four trips to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, three trips to Georgia, and two trips each to Arizona and Michigan.
Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail in Wisconsin
But in spite of her efforts, swing state polls show Biden and Harris tied or stubbornly behind former President Donald Trump.
Harris, who has been struggling for months with historic-low nationwide job approval ratings in the mid-30s, has had her approval ratings tick up in swing state polls.
A recent Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll shows Harris getting a 40 percent approval rating, while 52 percent still view her unfavorably, including 40 percent of voters who view her ‘very’ unfavorably. (Eight percent said they either had no opinion about the vice president or had never heard of Harris)
The Harris team and the Biden campaign is patiently working with the vice president to sell yet another reboot of her public image, as they only have about five more months until voters decide whether she has a political future.
First impressions are hard to shake. Democrats and Republicans alike criticized Harris’ laugh, her word salads, her emerging risk-averse, guarded, and awkward public persona that annoyed even her most avid supporters.
The Biden/Harris team began putting her on several traditional television interviews to reassure the country that she would be ready to assume the duties of the presidency if Biden was unable to complete a second term — and would remain on the ticket, despite public calls for Biden to pick someone else.
Now the campaign is trying to re-introduce Harris as someone who is more than just the caricature of her that exists online.
Kamala Harris presides over the wedding of her stepson Cole Emhoff
Reintroducing 'Momala'
The campaign reintroduced the concept of Harris as ‘Momala,’ a way to soften her image and emphasize her maternal aspects, even though she had never given birth and was a stepmother to her husband’s two adult children Cole and Ella.
The ‘momala’ moment with daytime talk show host Drew Barrymore turned out to be an awkward attempt to sell the narrative as Barrymore got uncomfortably close on the couch with Harris and urged her to be the ‘Momala’ of the nation.
The campaign tried again with Harris appearing with daytime talk show host Sherri Shepherd as Harris introduced several new photos of her surrounded by children in her life, and spoke about celebrating Mother’s Day.
‘I have many babies, let me just say,’ she said, recalling that she grew up having ‘many mothers’ in her life, outside of her own mother.
‘That’s how I am with the children in my life, they are like my children,’ she said.
Harris introduced new photos of her life as a college student, as a member of a dance troop in high school, and dressed up for her high school dance.
In her conversation with Shepherd, Harris spoke warmly about listening to music, officiating a wedding for her stepson, and cooking for her family.
'I'm telling you, I just grew up with P-funk' she said warmly, recalling her 'household full of music' when she grew up.
She invited Shepherd to her weekly ‘Sunday dinners’ at home and gave her a gift bag including candle created by a business in California made specially for her.
‘I love the smell of gardenia and jasmine,’ she said.
Life with 'Dougie'
Part of the effort to soften Harris' image includes more attention on her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Harris spoke about her tenth year wedding anniversary with Emhoff during her interview with Shepherd, describing how they navigate her busy life as vice president.
‘On Sundays, we sit down with our calendar, we have a scheduling meeting, and I know that sounds awful, and we have a rule nobody cries,’ she said.
Emhoff is portrayed as the affable and very encouraging spouse, who still has an unconditional love for Harris.
Appearing with late-night host Stephen Colbert, Emhoff appeared still delighted and amazed that his wife was the vice president.
Cole Emhoff, Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris, and Ella Emhoff
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas C. Emhoff arrive for an official State Dinner
When asked what the public should call him, he smiled and replied, 'I will let you say Doug. But not Dougie. That's only for Kamala. She's the only one that can call me Dougie'
Harris the 'uncensored fighter'
But Harris’ team also seem set on preserving the image of Harris as a ‘fighter,’ a no-nonsense political figure ready to help people.
‘Sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won’t and then you need to kick that fucking door down,’ she told an audience of young Asian Americans, dropping what appeared to be a planned expletive to make headlines.
The ‘uncensored’ Harris moment took place during a conversation with comedian Jimmy O’Yang as the vice president has drafted young comedians and podcast stars to help her promote her image.
Vice President Kamala Harris hugs comedian and auther DL Hughley
Comedian DL Hugely hosted a conversation with Harris in Milwaukee, despite his past criticism of Harris’ background in law enforcement in California. During the conversation, Hugely apologized for his past criticism of her and promised to support her in the future.
‘I think you have done what you said you would do. And there was a time that I didn’t believe it, and I have to say that I’m sorry,’ he said.
New media personalities
The team is eager to get outside of traditional media and recruit podcast and social media fueled stars who are excited to talk to the Vice President for the first time, without preconceived biases.
It's a low-risk communications exercise as online creators love the attention from the White House and are not interested as reporters intent on asking questions about pressing issues.
The vice president's staff is scheduling interview with people who have not interviewed her before.
The vice president’s team scheduled an with Franco Noriega, the chef and owner of the Peruvian and Brazilian fusion restaurant Baby Brasa as a way to help emphasize her love of cooking.
To keep her in the spotlight with the cool kids, her staff also schedule an interview with Jazzy Guerra, a teenage reporter from Brooklyn who runs the show ‘Jazzy’s World TV.’
Harris also did an interview with LeBron James’ manager and business partner Maverick Carter, where she talked about the struggle of being the first woman and first black vice president of the United States.
She explained that running a political campaign was like a 'marathon' where 'people are throwing tomatoes at you.'
‘We have to be perfect ... I know we won’t be, but you don’t break barriers and have the kind of success without having the highest standards,’ she told him.