(Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris has been pushing off President Joe Biden’s attempts to hit the campaign trail with her, deliberately keeping the 81-year-old incumbent at a distance.
Biden has campaigned for Harris a few times since she became the Democratic Party’s nominee, most recently on Oct. 15, when he delivered remarks to the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee Autumn Dinner.
But his requests to play an even larger role as Election Day approaches have been brushed off by Harris’s team, according to Axios.
“He’s a reminder of the last four years, not the new way forward,” one individual familiar told the outlet.
Other Harris campaign officials told the New York Times that publicly campaigning alongside Biden would “only hurt” Harris at this stage in the race.
According to the reports, Harris’s team is specifically worried that Biden might make a gaffe that damages her campaign, such as when he suggested this month that Democrats should “lock [former President Donald Trump] up.”
“Politically, lock him up—lock him out, that’s what we’ve got to do,” Biden added.
Harris’s campaign is also worried that if she appears alongside the president, voters will realize she would be a continuation of Biden’s administration.
“If I were running the Harris campaign, the last thing I would want to do is try to make this campaign about Joe Biden,” said Doug Sosnik, a veteran Democratic strategist, told the Times. “And of course I would not want him out campaigning.”
A spokesperson for the White House denied that Biden has been sidelined by Harris.
There is always speculation in political circles, but this is not accurate,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. “We are in close touch with the campaign to determine when, where and how the president can be helpful.”
Ian Sams, a spokesperson for Harris, was more vague, saying Harris is “grateful for President Biden’s support and appreciates that he is campaigning for her.”
