‘We’ll Get Back to You’: Kamala Harris Campaign Reportedly Stonewalling Biden Wanting to Hit the Trail on Her Behalf

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is reportedly keeping President Joe Biden at arm’s length and has rebuffed his attempt to campaign alongside her as the 2024 race for the White House draws to a close.

Alex Thompson with Axios spoke to officials on both sides of the growing disconnect and compared the situation to a “slow-moving break-up.”

Harris has repeatedly been asked publicly how she would govern differently than the unpopular 81-year-old. Thompson reported that there has been an effort to keep Biden away from Harris

“Harris’ campaign keeps responding: We’ll get back to you, three people familiar with the dynamic told Axios,” Thompson reported. “Harris’ team believes Biden is a political liability at a crucial time in the campaign — but is reluctant to directly say they don’t want him to campaign for her.”

While Biden is said to be eager to be seen with the woman who might succeed him in the Oval Office, those close to Harris are not reciprocating that sentiment. Thompson reported:

One person familiar with the situation compared it to a slow-moving break-up: Harris’ team and allies respect Biden’s service, but are wary of further tying Harris to the unpopular president on the campaign trail. Biden’s approval rating is 39%, according to FiveThirtyEight’s average.

[…]

Biden’s team has held days open for campaigning, only for Harris’ team to let those days pass, two people familiar with the matter told Axios. (A White House official disputed this.) There are currently no scheduled events for Harris and Biden to campaign together before Election Day, a week from Tuesday.

One person with reported knowledge of the effort to keep Biden off the trail with Harris cited her campaign slogan while telling Axios, “He’s a reminder of the last four years, not the new way forward.”

Additionally, per Thompson, the Harris team was irked last week after Biden commented that former President Donald Trump needed to be locked up last week while he was speaking in New Hampshire.

Biden made the comment and quickly walked it back.

“I know if I said this five years ago, you’d lock me up. We gotta lock him up,” Biden said. He quickly added, “Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”

The moment reportedly “frustrated” Harris’s aides.

A White House official claims Harris’s team wants to keep Biden away from her “not accurate” while neither team offered an on-the-record commented for the story.

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