WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden are co-headlining a campaign event Monday in the marquee battleground state of Pennsylvania as Harris balances presenting herself as “a new way forward” while remaining intensely loyal to Biden and the policies he has pushed.
The pair will attend Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade and offer some remarks, the first time the two have shared a speaking slot on the political stage together since the surprising election shakeup that provided a fresh jolt of Democratic enthusiasm to the 2024 election.
Harris’ campaign has said Pennsylvania voters are newly energized since Harris moved to the top of the ticket six weeks ago, with tens of thousands of new volunteers signed up to canvass for her and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Harris’ and Biden’s appearance at the parade, one of the largest such gatherings in the country, is part of a battleground state blitz with just over two months until Election Day.
Harris, 59, has sought to appeal to voters by positioning herself as a break from poisonous politics, rejecting the acerbic rhetoric of her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, while looking to move beyond the Biden era as well. Yet while her delivery may be very different from Biden’s, Harris’ agenda is chock-full of the same issues he has championed: capping the cost of prescription drugs, the Affordable Care Act, the economy and helping families afford child care.
“We fight for a future where we build what I call an opportunity economy, so that every American has the opportunity to own a home, start a business and to build wealth and intergenerational wealth. And a future where we lower the cost of living for America,” she said at a recent rally, echoing Biden’s calls to grow the economy “from the bottom out and the middle up.”
Harris briefly appeared on stage with Biden after the president delivered his remarks on the opening night of last month’s Democratic National Convention, but the two haven’t shared a microphone at a political event since Biden himself was running for office. At that time, the campaign was using Harris mostly as its chief spokeswoman for abortion rights, an issue they believe can help them win in November as restrictions grow and health care worsens for women following the fall of Roe v. Wade.
The pair have appeared at official events and met together at the White House since the ticket-swap.
For more than 3 1/2 years, Harris has been one of Biden’s chief validators. Now the tables are turned, as Harris looks to lean on Biden — a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania — to help win the potentially decisive state. Biden, for his part, has laid low since ending his reelection bid. He was last at the White House on Aug. 19 and has since been vacationing in Southern California and Delaware.
But even as she’s taken on the mantle of leading the Democratic Party, Harris has stood steadfastly at Biden’s side. In her first sit-down interview of her candidacy, Harris delivered an impassioned defense of Biden’s record and ability to do the job, even despite the events of the past two months that ended with her running for the Oval Office and Biden a lame duck.
The 81-year-old president stepped aside in July following a disastrous debate performance with Trump and a growing chorus within his own party for him to make room for a new generation. Harris and Trump will debate on Sept. 10.
“He cares so deeply about the American people. He is so smart and — and loyal to the American people. And I have spent hours upon hours with him, be it in the Oval Office or the Situation Room. He has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president,” she said in last week’s interview.
She added of Trump: “By contrast, the former president has none of that.”
Harris said during the CNN interview that serving with Biden was “one of the greatest honors of my career,” and she recounted the moment he called to tell her he was stepping down.
“He told me what he had decided to do and ... I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ and he said, ‘Yes,’ and that’s how I learned about it.”
The vice president said she didn’t need to ask Biden for his support because “he was very clear that he was going to endorse me.”
Harris has also defended the administration’s record on the southern border and immigration, one of the administration’s most persistent and vexing problems. She notes that she was tasked with trying to address the “root causes” in other countries that were driving the border crossings, though Republicans have tagged her as the “border czar.”
“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequences,” Harris said.
Although Harris has appeared more forceful in speaking about the plight of civilians in Gaza, as Israel’s war against Hamas there nears the 11th month mark, the vice president has also endorsed Biden’s efforts to arm Israel and bring about a hostage deal and ceasefire.
Israel said early Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages captured during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that ignited the Gaza war, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The revelation prompted tens of thousands of Israelis to demonstrate in the streets demanding a ceasefire deal.
Harris will join Biden on Monday in the Situation Room to meet with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team to discuss their continuing efforts on a deal that would secure the release of the remaining hostages.