Harris allies blame Joe Biden for vice president’s resounding defeat

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden the name was not on the ballot, but history will most likely remember Kamala Harris the resounding defeat was also his loss.

Like Democrats pick up the pieces after the elected president Donald Trump decisive victorySome of the vice president’s supporters are expressing frustration that Biden’s decision to seek re-election before this summer – despite lingering voter concerns about his age and worries about post-pandemic inflation and the US-Mexico border – has all but sealed his party’s loss of the White House .

“The greatest responsibility for this loss lies with President Biden,” said Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination and backed Harris’ unsuccessful campaign. “If he had resigned in January instead of July, we might have ended up in a very different place.”

Biden will leave office after leading the US out of the worst pandemic in a century by stepping up international support for Ukraine after Russian invasion and passing $1 trillion infrastructure bill this will impact communities for years to come.

But after running against Trump four years ago to “restore the soul of the country,” Biden will be behind just one term by his immediate predecessor, who overcame two impeachments, a felony conviction and an insurrection led by his supporters. Trump has promised to radically overhaul the federal government and roll back many of Biden’s priorities.

“Maybe in 20 or 30 years history will remember Biden for some of these accomplishments,” said Tom Reilly, co-director of the Center for Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University. “But in the short term, I’m not sure he will escape the legacy of a president who defeated Donald Trump only to lead a new Donald Trump administration four years later.”

The president remained out of sight for a second straight day Wednesday, making congratulatory calls to Democratic lawmakers who won the primaries and one to Trump, whom he invited to a White House meeting that the president-elect accepted.

Biden is set to give a speech in the Rose Garden on Thursday about the election. He issued a statement shortly after Harris gave her concession speech Wednesday, praising Harris for running a “historic campaign” under “extraordinary circumstances.”

Some senior Democrats, including three Harris campaign advisers, have expressed deep disappointment with Biden, who failed to acknowledge early in the election cycle that he was not up to the task. The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Biden, 81, ended his re-election campaign in July, weeks after dismal debate results stymied his party and raised questions about whether he still had the mental acuity and stamina to emerge as a credible candidate. .

But a survey long before this showed that many Americans are concerned about his age. In August 2023, about 77% of Americans said Biden was too old to be effective for another four years, according to the data. survey AP-NORC Public Affairs Center.

President left July 21 after receiving not-so-subtle nudges from Democratic officials including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He supported Harris and handed over his election campaign to her.

Harris managed to generate much more enthusiasm than Biden generated among the party base. But she has struggled to understand how her administration will differ from Biden’s.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View” in September, Harris couldn’t identify a decision that would see her split from Biden. “There’s nothing that comes to mind,” Harris said, giving the Trump campaign a sound bite it played on Election Day.

Strategists advising Harris’ campaign said the compressed campaign schedule has made it even harder for Harris to distinguish herself from the president.

They said if Biden had resigned earlier this year, it would have given Democrats enough time to hold primaries. Navigating intra-party infighting would force Harris or another possible candidate to more aggressively highlight differences with Biden.

Strategists acknowledged that overcoming widespread dissatisfaction among the American electorate with rising costs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and widespread concerns about the US immigration system weighed heavily on the minds of voters in key states.

Still, they said Biden put Democrats at a disadvantage.

Harris Senior Advisor David Plouffe message on X called it a “devastating loss.” Plouffe did not assign blame. He noted that the Harris campaign has “dug out of a deep hole, but not enough.”

At the Vice President’s concession speech On Wednesday, some Harris supporters said they wished the vice president had more time to speak to American voters.

“I think it would make a huge difference,” said Jerushatallah Palley, a Howard University student who attended the talk downtown on her campus.

Republicans are poised to control the White House and Senate. Control of the House of Representatives has yet to be determined.

Matt Bennett, executive vice president of the Democratic group Third Way, said the moment was the most devastating the party had faced in his lifetime.

“Harris was dealt a very bad hand. Some of this was Biden’s doing and some of it may not have been,” said Bennett, who served as an aide to Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. “Would Democrats have been better off if Biden had backed down earlier? I don’t know if we can say that for sure, but it’s a question we’ll be asking ourselves for some time.”

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Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.