Kamala Harris Is Now the Safer Choice for Democrats

The special-counsel report detailing President Biden’s rapid mental decline should change the 2024 calculus.

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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks next to President Joe Biden during the opening of the Biden for President campaign office in Wilmington, Del., February 3, 2024.

Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Ever since Joe Biden’s honeymoon ended in 2021 and the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and rising prices pummeled his approval ratings, it became abundantly clear that Democrats had not only a Biden problem, but also a Kamala Harris problem.

Harris has been so consistently unpopular that, however bad things have gotten for Biden, her existence has meant there was no real pressure for him to step aside. Given the identity politics involved in sidelining Harris, the idea that the Democrats would ever be able to ditch Biden and somehow swap in California governor Gavin Newsom or somebody else was pure fantasy. Thus, for the past several years, Democrats have had to ask themselves: Would we rather stick with Biden, or take our chances with Harris?

Philip Klein

About the Author

Philip Klein

Philip Klein is the editor of National Review Online.

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