CNN analyst John King said Thursday night that Vice President Kamala Harris may have other weaknesses but is a strong asset to the Biden campaign in “black street communities.”
King spoke to Harris with CNN's Anderson Cooper during a review of the 2024 presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. He said that while Harris has many issues, one of her strengths for the Biden campaign is her “potential star power” among key Democratic voters. (Related: After 'disastrous' debate performance, panicked Democrats rush to replace Biden)
“Joe Biden was vice president for eight years. If anybody should understand how hard it is to be vice president, how hard it is to establish an identity as vice president, it's him. Again, she's been turning over staff after staff. She has problems. There's no question about it,” King said.
“But she has the potential to be a star, and on issues like reproductive rights and the Black street community, she would be a great asset to this team, and they've kept her under wraps.”
Before praising Harris, King accused the campaign of “political malpractice” for not using her more effectively despite her dismal polling ratings.
“Republicans will probably disagree with me, but one of the greatest acts of political misconduct I've seen in my lifetime is hiding her for three years. Now she's out there and she has great appeal,” King said.
“Does she have weaknesses? Yes. Do Republicans see her as a burden? Yes. Are her poll numbers great? No. But she has appeal in the parts of the Biden coalition where he's most vulnerable. You go to inner-city Milwaukee and what are black Americans going to say? Where's the vice president, where has she been? They want the president to do that, but there she is. A feisty communicator, a TV-worthy woman, and yet they kept her in the dark for three years.”
“Right now she's busy campaigning, and I know there are people who will beat her in places with a lot of Republican voters, but in a close race where everyone has to work together, she's an asset to have working for them from the get-go,” King continued.
After the debate, Harris was interviewed by Cooper and asked about Biden's performance, and despite rumors that Democrats should start considering replacing Biden, Harris defended Biden's ability to win a second term and praised his performance.
She acknowledged Biden has gotten off to a “slow start” and said she would neither deny nor argue that, but argued that Biden remains a better choice than Trump in November's presidential election.
