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Vice-president Kamala Harris on Monday used her first public appearance since Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race to compare him favourably with his predecessors and praise his record.
Ms Harris, who spoke on the White House’s South Lawn while standing in for Mr Biden at an event to honor NCAA championship teams from this past collegiate athletic season, told attendees that the president, who is still in Delaware undergoing treatment for Covid-19, wanted to be at the event but is “feeling much better and recovering fast,” and said he “looks forward to getting back on the road.”
She also called Biden’s “legacy of accomplishment” during their three-and-a-half years in office one that was, in her words, “unmatched in modern history”.
“In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office,” she said.
Harris recalled how she’d first met Biden through his late son, Beau, while he was serving as Delaware’s attorney general and she was serving as California’s.
She said Beau often spoke of his father in glowing terms, adding that the qualities Biden’s late son “revered in his father” are the same ones she has seen in Biden “every day” during their time serving together, including “his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart and his love, deep love of our country.”
“And I am first hand witness that every day our President, Joe Biden, fights for the American people, and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation,” she added.
The vice president’s remarks were her first on-camera comments since Biden made the shock decision to exit the presidential race nearly a month after his poor debate performance against Donald Trump raised questions over whether he was up to the task of denying his predecessor a second term in the White House once more.
Biden made his decision public in a letter posted to his social media accounts, blindsiding aides who had hours earlier been defending him for staying in the race despite calls for him to stand down.
In a separate social media post, he endorsed Harris, with the vice president writing in a statement that she was “honored” to have it and stating that her intention was “to earn and win” the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
“Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” she said.
Within hours, the Biden-Harris re-election campaign had officially re-branded itself as “Harris for President” in Federal Election Commission paperwork and on social media.
Harris is set to make her first visit to the campaign’s headquarters later on Monday.
