GOP Candidates Push That the 2024 Campaign Is Against Kamala Harris – There was a time when a vice president was selected to help “balance” the ticket. That could have included helping to expand the base, to draw in voters from another region or even to help win a crucial state.
As Elaine Kamack, author of “Picking the Vice President,” noted in July 2020 that changed with the 1992 election, when then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton sought Senator Al Gore of Tennessee to be his running mate.
This shift was to what Kamack described as the “partnership” model, where running mates were picked for their ability to help them be partners in the ever more complex governing process. This explains why George W. Bush selected Dick Cheney, and why Donald Trump called upon Mike Pence.
Why Biden Picked Kamala Harris
In some ways, it could be argued that then-candidate Joe Biden upended the process again.
Though he was actually chosen for his ability to help Barack Obama govern, Biden seemed to select Senator Kamala Harris of California because she simply checked a number of boxes.
She was a woman of color, who was half Asian – and that seemed to weigh more for Biden than her ability to help him govern.
That is also why VP Harris has become an Achilles Heel for the ticket, one that GOP contenders are already aiming at. In the case of Gore and Cheney, either could have easily stepped in should something have happened to their boss – while it could be argued that Pence even brought some stability that reassured those who were certain Trump was up to the job.
Harris has not been seen as up to the job, which is why some of the potential Republican challengers vying for the nomination to take on Biden next year are actually making the campaign about her. President Joe Biden will be 82 by Election Day and could be 86 at the end of his second term, thus it is a fair point to address – he may simply not be around or at least not able to serve as president of the United States.
“I think that we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for Joe Biden you really are counting on a President Harris, because the idea that he would make it until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely,” Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told attendees at a rally earlier this year.
As Politico.com noted, Haley won’t win any awards for subtlety but the specter of Biden’s age won’t go away. The Republican candidates are thus going to make the case that they’re running not against Biden, but truly against Biden AND Harris. Is Joe Biden fit for the job and if not, is Kamala Harris up for it?
Lessons From History
As New York Magazine’s Intelligencer reported, this isn’t the first time the GOP has focused on a potentially unwell president and his running mate who happens to be a former senator.
In 1944, as President Franklin Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented fourth term, the Republican candidate Thomas Dewey argued that FDR was sick and tired, while his running mate Senator Harry Truman of Missouri was inexperienced and not up to the job. Roosevelt and Truman won the election, but the Republicans proved right that FDR was sick and tired. He died less than three months into his fourth term.
Yet, Truman went on to see the U.S. victory in the Second World War and even won reelction in 1948.
Of course, the Democrats played a similar game of targeting the VEEP in 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower sought reelection months after he suffered a serious heart attack. The New York Times reported at the time that Eisenhower was 66 years old, and no president ever had lived to be 70 while still in the White House.
Biden is of course more than a decade older, and while Harris has proven to be his cross to bear, Eisenhower’s running mate was also a former senator from California – namely Richard Nixon. The Democrats thus went after Nixon rather than the war hero who won World War II!
In the run-up to 2024, the GOP contenders will likely take aim at Biden’s age, his frequent gaffes, and most certainly the ongoing investigations into his son’s past business dealings. None of that is going to change, but instead of seeming like a staple option should Biden be unable to fulfill the duties of the office, Kamala Harris continues to be more baggage for Biden.
That is why she’ll remain in the GOP’s crosshairs until Election Day (and perhaps beyond).
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
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