Washington: President Joe Biden affirmed that he will run for a second White House term, with vice president Kamala Harris as running mate, setting at rest for now raging speculation in the media and political circles of changes at the top, including among some Democrats.
Asked whether he was satisfied with Harris’ work leading the voting rights effort and whether he will commit to putting her on the ticket once again, Biden said, “Yes and yes”. Asked to elaborate, he said, “There’s no need to,” before adding, “She’s going to be my running mate, number one. And number two, I did put her in charge. I think she’s doing a good job. ” The endorsement of Harris, and his own assertion on the eve of his first year in office anniversary that he has “over performed”, cooled for now chatter in the political circuit about Harris’ and his own political future amid dismal approval rating. Speculation has extended to talk of drafting Hillary Clinton to run again in 2024 to unify a deeply divided country facing an upsurge of nativism.
Biden’s remarks came at a marathon two-hour news conference just hours before Senate Republicans blocked a bill aimed at expanding voting rights that is seen as a challenge to white primacy. Getting the bill to the Senate floor would have needed 60 votes to overturn a filibuster, an archaic convention that allows a minority of 40+ senators to block any legislation. Democrats failed to keep even their own flock of 50 together, losing the vote 4852 after two of their own senators went against the party line.
