Republicans prepare attacks on Harris as pressure grows on Biden to resign

MILWAUKEE – Republicans gathered this week for their party’s convention to rely on their November opponent as the Democratic Party is rocked by dramatic events.

Speakers criticized not only President Biden but also the Biden-Harris administration. They referred to Vice President Harris as a “border czar,” a reference to the task she was given to address the root causes of migration. And some openly speculated about how former President Trump would fare against someone other than Biden.

Republicans have made clear they would prefer Biden to stay in the race, seeing him as a weakened candidate whose poll numbers are lagging. But if he drops out, Harris would be the most likely successor, and Republicans signaled this week they are ready to go on the attack if the vice president is promoted.

“As far as I checked, it was Biden-Harris. So everything Biden did is an issue that she is complicit in,” said Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, rejecting the notion that a Harris-led platform would change the electoral map.

“Not to mention she’s also the gaslighter-in-chief who says, ‘Oh, he’s fine. He’s in great shape,'” LaCivita added. “I mean, do you know how many recordings we have of that?”

Biden has shown no public signs of withdrawing as a candidate, but leading Democrats are putting increasing pressure on him to reconsider his candidacy, warning that he could drag the entire party into the abyss.

Speakers focused on Biden all week, but many also referenced Harris, trying to specifically link her to issues like inflation and immigration that resonate with many voters, and arguing that she cannot be separated from Biden’s record.

A delegate on Thursday changed a “Fire Joe Biden” sign to “Fire Joe Biden, Kamala is next!”

Although Trump did not mention Harris by name in his lengthy speech Thursday night, Republican lawmakers and campaign staff were asked throughout the week what replacing Biden at the top of the ballot would mean for the party’s chances in November.

“It will certainly be different and it will depend on who they pick,” said Republican Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania. “But I feel very, very good about where we are. I feel good about the message. I think the American people are voting for Trump now because of his policies, compared to the disasters we saw with the Biden administration.”

LaCivita said the most obvious attack on Harris would be the label “border czar.” Although that was never Harris’ official title and her job was to address the reasons why migrants from the Northern Triangle come to the southern U.S. border, Republican attacks on her work on the issue have been persistent.

Other speakers in Milwaukee portrayed Harris as soft on crime, despite criticism from some progressives of her performance as a prosecutor and California attorney general.

Republican House Majority Leader Tom Emmer delivered a fiery speech criticizing Harris for her conduct during demonstrations in Minnesota following the killing of George Floyd in 2020, citing her advocacy for a bail fund for arrested protesters.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has repeatedly claimed during her own 2024 campaign that a vote for Biden is actually a vote for Harris, and reiterated that belief in a speech at the party’s convention on Tuesday.

“After everyone has seen the debate, they know it’s true,” she said, claiming the country would be worse off if Harris were president “for just one day.”

There are a handful of polls showing whether Harris would fare better than Biden in a head-to-head matchup with Trump, but the results are mixed.

According to an NBC News poll released Sunday, Trump is two percentage points ahead of Biden, 45 percent to 43 percent, and Harris is two percentage points ahead, 47 percent to 45 percent. According to a Siena/College poll by the New York Times, Harris is doing slightly better than Biden in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Both states must be won by the Democrats.

The Biden campaign team said there were no plans for a change, even though the situation appears increasingly untenable for the president.

“Absolutely, the president is in this race,” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said Friday. “He has said that over and over again.”

Some Democrats argue that their chances in November would increase simply by having a candidate who can argue vigorously against Trump on a daily basis.

Harris showed what that might look like this week with campaign appearances in Michigan and North Carolina while the president recovers in isolation from her Covid-19 illness.

“Are you ready to raise your voice? Do we believe in freedom? Do we believe in opportunity? Do we believe in the promise of America? And are we ready to fight for it?” she said in a vigorous dialogue with the crowd in North Carolina on Thursday.

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (R) said at a CNN-Politico Grill event outside the convention grounds that he would ask Republican leaders to commission polls to find out what kind of messaging, wording and branding would be most effective against a Harris-led platform.

Sununu suggested that Harris choose a governor as his running mate, naming Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as a possible candidate. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear were also mentioned as possible Harris running mate choices.

A ticket led by Harris would also potentially have historic value, as she could be the first woman and the first woman of color to be elected president, while the Republicans nominated a ticket with two white men for the third consecutive year.

And some Republicans acknowledged that a change of candidate could give their Democratic rivals an advantage, at least in the short term.

“When and if they make the switch, everything will change. In many of these states where the elections are getting tighter, it will be very tight. There will be more energy,” Sununu said Thursday. “I think the Democratic Party would be spurred by the independents who say, ‘Hey, from the beginning, none of us liked the whole Biden-Trump ticket.'”

Al Weaver contributed to this.