Without even announcing a re-election campaign, President Joe Biden has committed to naming Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate yet again.
But some Democrats stopped short of endorsing Harris for a second term as vice president.
In January, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren hesitated to endorse Harris for a second term — and it birthed a feud between the Democratic leaders.
Almost two months later, reports say Harris refuses to talk to Warren.
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When asked about Harris’s possible second term, Warren reportedly told Boston Public Radio:
I really want to defer to what makes Biden comfortable on his team. I’ve known Kamala for a long time. I like Kamala. I knew her back when she was an attorney general and I was still teaching, and we worked on the housing crisis together, so we go way back. But they need — they have to be a team, and my sense is they are — I don’t mean that by suggesting I think there are any problems. I think they are.
Speaking to CNN, one person close to the vice president described the remark as “pretty insulting” to Team Harris.
Warren served alongside Harris for four years in the Senate. In 2016, Warren became the first senator to endorse Harris for Senate.
But Harris reportedly hasn’t been returning Warren’s calls since her radio spot. Rather, Harris is sending her Chief of Staff Lorraine Voles to deal with Warren, an insider told CNN.
Some pundits described Warren’s remark as an attempt to give the president some room to decide re-election for himself. However, Warren had already committed to supporting Biden in 2024.
“President Biden is running in 2024, and I’m supporting him,” Warren told NBC News last year. “You can ask it any way you want, but I’m going to say the same thing.”
She hesitated only at Boston Public Radio’s mention of Harris.
Warren later claimed her hesitation as merely a verbal error — but she hasn’t convinced Harris.
“I fully support the President’s and Vice President’s re-election together, and never intended to imply otherwise,” Warren told the outlet in a statement shortly after the interview.
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Some Democrats, without naming Warren, called for critics to embrace Harris out of necessity.
“Right now, she seems to be an albatross,” one state Democratic Party chair told CNN, referring to the vice president’s low polling. “She’s either going to be a liability or a help. And you better embrace her because it’s not like she’s going to be off the ticket.” If you can’t beat her, join her!
Biden put Warren in a shadow competition with Harris back in 2020. In a debate, Biden committed to naming a woman as his running mate, and some pundits were urging him to choose Warren over Harris.
Harris has already begun an apparent campaign for a second term. On Thursday, she is set to visit Iowa for the first time in her vice presidency, following the Democrats’ decision to choose South Carolina as the leadoff state in the primary process.
The Horn editorial team