Vice President Kamala Harris pushed back when Andrew Ross Sorkin asked what he called a question she wouldn’t “like”: Is a vote for President Joe Biden really a vote for her?
The VP was one of several high-profile and newsmaking interviews Sorkin scored this week as part of The New York Times Events DealBook Summit 2023.
Sorkin — like many interviewers — tried several different ways to get VP Harris to engage with the idea she might replace the president during his second term, but Harris pushed back and focused on talking up Biden:
MR. SORKIN: Let me ask you a question that I know you get asked a lot. And I know it’s a question that I imagine you don’t like. And it is –THE VICE PRESIDENT: I expected many of those today. (Laughs.)MR. SORKIN: This is the headline. It ran in the Wall Street Journal and it ran as a question. So, I’m just going to ask it directly to you.THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah.MR. SORKIN: Is a vote for Biden a vote for President Harris?THE VICE PRESIDENT: A vote for President Biden is a vote for President Biden and Vice President Harris.We are a ticket. It’s called “Biden-Harris.” That’s the administration. That’s on the ticket.MR. SORKIN: Right. Okay.THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes. I was elected. And I intend to be reelected, as does the President.
MR. SORKIN: Let me ask it in a different way then. (Laughter.) No — no, no.Do you think — and this is a very, just, personal question — when you voted historically before — before you –THE VICE PRESIDENT: I voted for myself.MR. SORKIN: No, but be- — (laughter).Before you were in this role — before you were in this role –THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.MR. SORKIN: — you voted for presidents and tickets before.THE VICE PRESIDENT: Indeed.MR. SORKIN: Okay. So, here’s the question. Do you accept the idea, the conception that when people in this room and other places vote for your ticket — this is the Biden-Harris ticket — that they have to believe — everybody in this room has to believe that you would make an exceptional president?Are they voting affirmatively for you in that role? Or are they voting for something different?THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, they’re voting for so much when they vote for president. They’re voting for what are the accomplishments, when you’re talking about reelection; the values, the principles that — that those leaders stand for and exemplify.
Watch above via New York Times Events.