Name: Who could be Kamala Harris' running mate?
Uploaded: 2024-07-22T03:02:40.000Z
Duration: 8 min 51 s
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And it is now 3.30 on the East Coast and just to update everyone who is just joining us, President Biden has made the decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential contest. This happened at about 1.45 Eastern Time, so almost two hours ago, informing his campaign team just a minute before he put this statement out where he said, it has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president and while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term. President Biden has also endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee and we have also heard from the Clintons in a joint statement saying they endorse the vice president to become the nominee because in their words, America's future depends on it. They say they have been through many ups and downs but the Clinton saying nothing has made us more worried for our country than the threat posed by a second Trump term. I want to bring in Ed O'Keefe who covers the White House as well and this has been a difficult decision for President Biden who has been described as very angry as he is still recovering from COVID at his home in Delaware. What ultimately moved him to make this decision? Well, we're still trying to figure out exactly what it was but there were obviously a collection of things that were occurring and the latest that had come essentially in the overnight hours is the fact that money was becoming an issue. Donald Trump now has more money on hand than Joe Biden does in his campaign coffers and so that was a signal that after weeks of hearing that donors were withholding large sums of money not only to his campaign but to the various super PACs that run ads and try to find people across the country to turn out and vote that it was going to become difficult to keep the lights on conceivably in the coming weeks and to pay for the advertising and the travel and the staffing necessary across the country so that was another factor that had emerged just in the last day essentially we don't know that that is necessarily the one but it is a big data point that affects any candidate when they're in the crunch if they start to see money issues. This appears to be coming to be becoming a conversation about how do we formally nominate her the vice president and then who do we pick as her running mate there are no indications yet and Bob has reported this as well that there are no others currently planning to step up and challenge her after the president said what he said this afternoon endorsing his running mate but there will be a conversation about who is most palatable who makes the most sense to be on the ticket with her we've heard about a handful of governors some senators as well across the country from key swing states that could conceivably help we've seen some statements from some of those that had raised concerns about the president recent days let's look at this list for example here you have the Kentucky governor Andy Beshear the

Illinois governor JB Pritzker the Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer the

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North Carolina governor Roy Cooper those four right there are seen as potential good ones because they have executive experience they've run modestly sized states or in the case Andy Beshear won reelection as a

Democrat in a red state and are seen as the kind of person who can be sent out to campaign with the Senate and House candidates who for the last three weeks have been saying they can't campaign alongside the president others on that list Mark Kelly from Arizona would be an interesting pick the former astronaut from a swing state there's a Democratic governor who could replace him what might deliver a much-needed battleground state those are the kinds of conversations going on right now with Democrats well certainly the same still exists today about that blue wall that the Democrats assuming that the vice president Kamala Harris could could carry the same states that they did in the last election the most contested ones being the blue wall giving

Pennsylvania Michigan Wisconsin and governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania very popular in that state and popular with people who voted for Trump so his name also at the top there Robert Costa nor I just stepped off set for a few minutes to get calls from a couple of the people closest to President Biden and some fascinating new details to share with you this was in the minds of in the words of his closest advisors a quote presidential decision that's how he frames a lot of things in his presidency and he did it very much alone yes he conferred with some of his family members and advisors but he has been in isolation in his home in Rehoboth Beach Delaware he has been exhausted in recent days he has been monitoring the polls including one from the Detroit Free

Press the weight of this all as he's been coughing all weekend alone has been enormous on his shoulders he has felt wounded at times from how fellow

Democrats including from the Obama Biden administration have talked about him publicly how he feels pressured to get out of the race but he kept this decision extremely close his son Hunter reportedly in California not in Rehoboth

Beach Delaware this weekend he's talking to his sister Valerie talking of course to the first lady Jill Biden and they have all said to him in recent days you do what's best for you this is your decision to make and he has been alone because of kovat not because he wants to be alone he's actually been in a pretty salty mood I've been told because of kovat and he doesn't have the ability to use his phone as much or have the kind of meetings he wants to have but there have been some key people who've really helped him with this decision to think it through Mike Donilon who goes back decades with him one of his longtime trusted advisors they always say Donilon is like a parish priest he never speaks he has this kind of kind demeanor he almost never speaks in meetings he only speaks to Biden he has that kind of relationship doesn't speak to other advisors because it could trickle out President Biden I'm told by his closest advisors has been angry about the leaks about anger towards him about his electability he has also made clear to people privately that Vice President

Harris needs to be fully supported and they're watching in the coming days not only does President Biden address the country but will she address the country in some capacity now it's unusual for a vice president to have a national address but she could make some sort of major speech that's not formal with the office of the vice presidency but a political speech to reintroduce herself to the country and as late as yesterday evening some of the people closest to

Biden still believe the decision was fluid was being active that this is something that came together with three or four people in the last six to twelve hours and that I can confirm having reached out to some of the folks who even this morning like Cedric Richmond on our air on face the nation this morning coming out and backing Joe Biden saying he is staying in this race

I've reached out to others from the campaign who said they were also surprised because they went out in fight mode this morning saying he's dedicated he's not giving up it was news to them when this was announced you know when it comes to the vice president nor it's important to remember this isn't the first time the question has been asked is she ready this was an 81 year old president every single interview Kamala Harris has done she's been asked are you ready because she was a heartbeat away and that meant something for an 81 year old president I was just looking at my last interview with her and she said yes I am if necessary but Joe Biden's going to be fine that was last September that's how long we've been talking about Joe Biden's age as a factor in this election and a worry for the electorate but during the Democratic primary process we were told put that aside the public was told it is not a factor in his viability and yet three weeks ago that changed completely at the debate we watched it we covered it in that moment and the ground shifted it's an excellent point about how much has changed in such a short period of time and now while

Kamala Harris has been endorsed by the president by the Clintons by a number of other top governors say they will not challenge her at this hour there is still a test that presents itself when running for president of the United

 States there is no sharper spotlight than a presidential race it does things to people it changes them it changes people's views of them no matter how qualified you are people have stereotypical views it is a tough grinder to run for president of the United States she has the benefit of having run for president she has the benefit of being four years almost in the vice presidential mansion in the White House side by side Joe Biden has kept her and a lot of these key decisions by her side but now this will test her and those around her in a way that she's not been tested to this point

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Who could be Kamala Harris' running mate?

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