CNN host Chris Wallace reminded viewers Wednesday that just “six months ago” Democrats were considering ways to remove Vice President Kamala Harris from President Joe Biden’s ticket.
Before Harris became the Democratic nominee for the upcoming presidential election, approval ratings for the vice president had been dismal, falling as low as 36.3% in November 2023. Wallace noted that while the Democratic National Convention (DNC) was going “fine” as it entered its third night, some delegates and Democratic officials disapproved of Harris staying on the ticket with Biden initially when he was still in the race.
“I‘ve been thinking about this a lot. As far as this convention is going, I think it‘s going fine, particularly last night. I thought the Obamas were very strong. I thought Michelle Obama was particularly effective. Having said that, it‘s a strange situation, as we all know,” Wallace said.
“We‘ve had this nominee over the course, Kamala Harris, for 30 days, and usually a convention is the end of a process. They‘ve gone through an entire six months, a year of a presidential campaign — New Hampshire, Iowa, all the primaries. This one is the beginning of a process in a sense,” Wallace said.
Wallace continued by noting the convention lacked a personal connection to the vice president, comparing it to a relationship without love. (RELATED: Steve Kornacki Says Kamala Harris Not Blowing Trump Away With ‘Gender Gap’)
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“So to me, it feels more like a romance where you‘re in the first month that‘s very intoxicating, you really like the person, but you haven‘t fallen in love yet. That‘s what I feel missing from this convention,” Wallace continued. “They really want her to win. They really want to beat Donald Trump. But [is there a] personal connection to Kamala Harris that there is normally to a new nominee of a party? No, I don‘t think so.”
“In fact, to be brutally honest about it, six months ago there were a lot of delegates that are here and a lot of Democratic officials who were thinking, ‘Gee, maybe we could get rid of Kamala Harris and we’d have somebody else as a backup to Joe Biden,'” Wallace said.
Following Biden’s poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June, the Democratic Party began considering alternative candidates for the ticket. With Harris’ approval among voters dropping to 39.5% in March, Democrats were divided on whether to accept her as Biden’s potential replacement.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the immediate backing of Harris, saying in a July livestream that many Democrats were “interested in removing the whole ticket.” However, Ocasio-Cortez later endorsed Harris after Biden announced his withdrawal from the race.
“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave, that they will support Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in removing the whole ticket.”
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