One high-profile Democratic lawmaker abstained from endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for re-election less than two years out from the 2024 contest.
During a recent interview, Sen. Liz Warren (D-MA) said she wants to wait on President Joe Biden, who has not formally declared another campaign.
“I really want to defer to what makes Biden comfortable on his team,” Warren told Boston Public Radio (BPR). “I’ve known Kamala for a long time. I like Kamala. I knew her back when she was an attorney general and I was still teaching and we worked on the housing crisis together, so we go way back. But they need — they have to be a team, and my sense is they are — I don’t mean that by suggesting I think there are any problems. I think they are.”
So far, Biden has only said he intends to run again. According to multiple reports, he is expected to make an announcement shortly after his State of the Union address on February 7. As for his plans for a running mate, a little more than one year ago, Biden said he was committed to Harris in 2024 if he sought a second term.
“She’s going to be my running mate, number one,” he said at the time, according to POLITICO. “And number two, I did put her in charge. I think she’s doing a good job,” he added of Harris’ role in voting rights policies.
Approval ratings tell a different story for Harris and her boss. Biden sits at 41.6% while Harris is at 38.4%, according to FiveThirtyEight. During the past two years, Harris has dealt with constant negative headlines detailing high turnover in her office. The vice president’s critics have also piled on for what they say is her failure to take her lead role in tackling the migration challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border seriously.
Warren, like Harris, was a senator who competed for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2020 contest before rallying behind Biden. Warren says she is seeking re-election as senator in 2024 and joined another leftist who previously ran for president, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), in voicing support for Biden if he does vie for a second term in the White House.
“Yes. He should run again. And he is running again,” Warren told BPR. The senator insisted Biden has “gotten a tremendous amount done” and described some accomplishments during his administration, including the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and an increase in funding for science.
Questions posed to Warren about Biden stressed the president’s age, which has become a point of concern among critics and allies alike. At 80, Biden is already the oldest person to be president. He would be 82 for a second inauguration and 86 at the end of a second term.
If Biden does run again, he might find himself in a general election rematch against former President Donald Trump, who announced another bid for the White House in November.