In a worrying moment for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, as he faces calls to drop out of the race over his egregious blunders in last week’s debate, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a private fundraiser in San Francisco on Tuesday. Donors spoke and focused the election.
“Let’s address the elephant in the room. There are actually two: one is the debate, and the other is the Trump supporter’s laugh. The apartment is in a high-rise overlooking the city.
“As the president said, this debate, [was] This was not his finest moment. We all know this,” Harris told the room. But she added that the election result “cannot be decided on one day in June”.
“The fact that the stakes are so high in this election. It remains true that the race is so close. The fact that there is a profound contrast between the two sides of the split picture in terms of who stands for what and what each has accomplished,” she said . “Trump is a liar, that’s still true.”
Her appearance at a San Francisco fundraiser came on the same day that Trump’s campaign reported raising $331 million, while Biden raised $264 million in the second quarter of this year, erasing Biden’s previous cash advantage over Trump.
“President Trump’s campaign fundraising is booming day after day, month after month,” senior Republican campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Suzy Wells said in a statement. “This fundraising momentum is likely to grow even further as we move into world-class conventions and see Democrats continue their circular firing squad following Biden’s debate defeat.”
Harris did not reveal anything further about Biden’s debate performance when a Times reporter attended a private fundraiser on Tuesday.
Democratic strategist Elizabeth Ashford, who served as Harris’ chief of staff when she was California’s attorney general, praised Harris’ focus in recent days on delivering a clear and unambiguous message to anxious American voters. Ashford said Harris’ job is to focus on the administration’s accomplishments and prove to voters — without actually saying it — that she can step in when necessary and lead the country effectively.
“That’s what I’m particularly focused on,” Ashford said. “One of the areas of growth for Kamala is confidence in the way she communicates. This was that moment.
A new CNN poll shows that about 75% of voters believe that Democrats will have a better chance of retaining the White House if they replace Biden with someone new. Polls also show that in a hypothetical matchup, Harris and Trump would have almost identical support rates – 47% of registered voters surveyed nationwide said they would support Trump, and 45% said they would vote for Harris. The same poll showed an even wider gap among the current likely candidates, with 49% backing Trump and 43% backing Biden.
At Tuesday’s fundraiser, Harris looked at ease among a roomful of longtime donors and friends dating back to her beginnings in politics 20 years ago when she was San Francisco’s district attorney.
Harris praised the administration’s policy achievements, such as capping insulin prices for Medicare seniors and eliminating student loan debt for millions of borrowers. She emphasized the White House’s commitment to mitigating climate change by investing in green energy and supporting reproductive freedom and other rights for women and marginalized communities.
“The American people are aware that their hard-won freedoms and liberties are under total attack – a deliberate attack,” she said.
Harris said those risks became “significant” following Monday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court granting Trump – and possibly future presidents – legal immunity from criminal charges stemming from official actions while in office. higher”.
“Let us not forget that Donald Trump has publicly stated that he admires dictators and intends to ‘be a dictator from day one,'” Harris said. “We have to fight, and we know how to fight.”
