President Joe Biden likes to tease the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming president one day, and she is working furiously to revamp her image with voters to build support for a future run.
Biden has hinted at a future Kamala presidential run at several public events in recent weeks.
“There’s no doubt that a Morehouse man will be president someday, right after an AKA from Howard,” Biden said during his commencement address last week, referring to Harris, a graduate of the University of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Howard.
As the crowd laughed and applauded, Biden added, “She’s tough, guys.”
It’s a familiar rhetorical aside for Biden, who likes to appeal to a broad audience.
Biden was equally self-deprecating during a White House reception to celebrate Asian Heritage Month.
President Joe Biden likes to mock the idea of Vice President Kamala Harris one day becoming president, and she is working furiously to revamp her image with voters to build support for a future run.
“I asked her to be my vice president because I knew I needed someone smarter than me,” he said, after telling the crowd that he “works for Kamala Harris.”
On his bad days, Biden even slips up and refers to Harris as president of the United States during public events as he has done. at least eight times as president.
During the Kenyan president’s state visit, 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 hinted at a future Kamala presidential run at several public events in recent weeks.
In a March 2023 speech on immigration, Biden proudly addressed her and praised ‘President Harris’ for her help in the immigration crisis by leading the ‘effort to improve things in the countries from which they leave.’
While the timeline for Harris’ next step in her political career is still unclear, what is very clear is that Harris wants to be the next president of the United States.
Harris could take over as Biden’s immediate successor, 81, if she is unable to finish her 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 and catastrophic end to her political career.
The race to reboot Kamala Harris
Harris is doing the job. He has 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 to Arizona and Michigan.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning in Wisconsin
But despite their efforts, polls from swing states show Biden and Harris either tied or stubbornly behind former President Donald Trump.
Harris, who has been struggling for months with historically low job approval ratings nationally in the mid-30s, has seen her approval ratings rise in swing state polls.
A recent Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll shows Harris earning 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 had no opinion of the vice president or had never heard of Harris.)
Harris’ team and the Biden campaign are working patiently with the vice president to sell another reset 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 beat. Democrats and Republicans alike criticized Harris’ laugh, his word salads, his emerging risk-averse, cautious and awkward public persona that irked even his most avid supporters.
The Biden/Harris team began including her in several traditional television interviews to assure the country that she would be ready to assume the duties of the presidency if Biden was unable to complete a second term, and that she would remain on the list, despite public calls to favor. Biden will choose someone else.
Now the campaign is trying to re-present Harris as someone who is more than just the caricature of her that exists online.
Kamala Harris presides over her stepson Cole Emhoff’s wedding
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 when Barrymore awkwardly approached Harris on the couch and urged her to be the nation’s ‘Momala’.
The campaign tried again with Harris appearing with daytime talk show host Sherri Shepherd as Harris debuted several new photos of herself surrounded by the children in her life and talked about celebrating Mother’s Day.
“I have a lot of babies, let me tell you,” she said, recalling that she grew up having “a lot of mothers” in her life, in addition to her own mother.
“That’s how I am with the children in my life, they are like my children,” he said.
Harris debuted new photos from her life as a college student, as a member of a high school dance group and dressing 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 tell you, I grew up with P-funk,” he said warmly, remembering his “house full of music” growing up.
She invited Shepherd to her weekly ‘Sunday dinners’ at home and gave her a gift bag that included a candle created by a company in California made especially for her.
“I love the smell of gardenia and jasmine,” she said.
Life with ‘Dougie’
Part of the effort to soften Harris’ image includes paying more attention to her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Harris discussed her 10th wedding anniversary with Emhoff during her interview with Shepherd and described 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 it sounds horrible, and we have a rule: No one cries,” he said.
Emhoff is portrayed as the affable and very encouraging spouse, who still has unconditional love for Harris.
Appearing with late-night host Stephen Colbert, Emhoff seemed still delighted and amazed that his wife was vice president.
Cole Emhoff, Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris and Ella Emhoff
US 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’ll let you say Doug.” But not Dougie. That’s just for Kamala. She’s the only one who can call me Dougie.
Harris the ‘uncensored fighter’
But Harris’ team also seems determined to preserve Harris’ image as a “fighter,” a no-nonsense political figure willing to help people.
‘Sometimes people open the door for you and leave it open. “Sometimes they don’t and then you have to kick that fucking door down,” she told an audience of young Asian Americans, unleashing what appeared to be an insult planned to make headlines.
Harris’ ‘uncensored’ moment came during a conversation with comedian Jimmy O’Yang as the vice president recruited young comedians and podcast stars to help her promote her image.
Vice President Kamala Harris hugs comedian and author DL Hughley
Comedian DL Hugely hosted a conversation with Harris in Milwaukee, despite his previous 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’ve done what you said you would do. And there was a moment when I didn’t believe it, and I have to say I’m sorry,’ he stated.
New media personalities
The team is eager to break out of traditional media and recruit podcast and social media-driven 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 attention from the White House and aren’t interested because journalists try to ask questions about pressing issues.
The vice president’s staff is scheduling interviews with people who have not interviewed her before.
The vice president’s team scheduled a meeting with Franco Noriega, chef and owner of the Peruvian-Brazilian fusion restaurant Baby Brasa, as a way to help emphasize her love of cooking.
To keep her in the spotlight among the cool kids, her staff also schedules 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 discussed the struggle of being the first woman and first black vice president of the United States.
He explained that running a political campaign was like a “marathon” in which “people throw tomatoes at you.”
“We have to be perfect… I know we won’t be, but you don’t break barriers and achieve the kind of success without having the highest standards,” he told her.