United States: Kamala Harris, the quest for popularity in the shadow of Joe Biden

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Washington, April 12, 2023. AP - Evan Vucci

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

She made U.S. history three years ago by becoming the first woman and the first African-American person of Asian descent to serve as vice president. With the announcement of Joe Biden's candidacy for his own re-election in 2024, Kamala Harris would remain in this position, one of the most thankless on the political scene across the Atlantic, in the event of victory of the current American president. Enough to remain in the shadow of the head of state, at least for now.

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Inevitably, for Kamala Harris, a Joe Biden who wins, this means abandoning for the moment the ambition, a time caressed, to run for the presidency itself. The vice-president suffers from her lack of popularity and personal political base. It must be said that in recent years, in this position, she has been entrusted with the most thankless missions, such as the management of the migration issue.

For Alexis Pichard, doctor in American civilization, the idea would now be to make him grow: "This is the ambiguity of this new mandate that Joe Biden is seeking: it is to install Kamala Harris as a legitimate heir and popularize her with voters.

For this, Kamala Harris has a card to play: her commitment to burning issues, such as abortion. "It is really this social issue that defines her today as vice-president. It is this fierce fight for women to regain this right or not to lose it. On this theme, she is more audible than Joe Biden, who is of Catholic faith and who is a man. It has seized on this theme to exist in the media and politically," continues Alexis Pichard.

In any case, Joe Biden, who would be 86 years old at the end of a possible second term, will not be able to go further. And if tradition is respected, Kamala Harris should succeed him as candidate. From Richard Nixon to Mike Pence, this has often been confirmed: the vice president ends up taking over from the incumbent in the presidential race.

>> READ ALSO: Joe Biden candidate in 2024: "No one else has really emerged" among the Democrats

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• United States
• Kamala Harris
• Joe Biden