Democratic lawmakers have been complaining to Vice President Kamala Harris about President Biden’s 2024 campaign, warning that the ticket’s re-election strategy “need[s] to be better” to allay voter concerns and defeat likely Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Dozens of sources tell CNN that Harris has been hosting informal gatherings of Democratic members of Congress, governors and other elected officials who are increasingly worried about taking heavy losses up and down the ballot Nov. 5
“The ‘bedwetting’ complaints are running thin with people,” one source told the outlet in reference to the talks held at the White House, on Air Force Two, or during dinners at the vice president’s official residence.
“The West Wing and the campaign need to be better,” the person added.
Other unnamed Democrats have said Biden’s best option for boosting his lagging poll numbers would be to drop Harris as his running mate, according to the sources.
Recent polls show immigration and the economy remain top of mind for Americans heading into a likely 2024 matchup between the current and former president.
At the same time, Biden’s approval rating is at a record low for an incumbent at this point in the election cycle — while Harris’ job performance rating often falling beneath her boss, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
The fraught conversations have included advice from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to address the record-setting number of migrants crossing into the US over the southern border — in part by attacking Trump and his allies in Congress for torpedoing a bill earlier this month that would have overhauled asylum policies.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who joined Pritzker and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for a dinner last Saturday at the Naval Observatory, has also disagreed with the Biden-Harris campaign’s approach to campaigning on abortion, one of the few issues where Democrats currently have a clear polling advantage over Republicans.
Moore, meanwhile, sounded the alarm about the president and vice president losing voters under 35 years old to Trump, according to recent polls.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) has also expressed concern about Arab-American voters in her state, with a movement threatening to “Abandon Biden” in the state’s Feb. 27 primary over his support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Congressional Black Caucus chairman Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) has further suggested that the concept of “Bidenomics,” the White House’s slogan for the president’s purported progress against unemployment and inflation, goes over the heads of voters concerned more about housing affordability.
Harris has focused on courting more black voters with economic messaging in particular, hosting meetings with African-American-focused entertainment and media outlets, as well as financial and political figures both inside and outside the administration.
Among those who attended a December dinner at the Naval Observatory, according to CNN, were comedian D.L. Hughley, director Spike Lee, rapper Fat Joe, and actor Don Cheadle.
The meetings are aimed at bursting the “bubble” of the Biden campaign strategy in the hope of pivoting to more effective talking points before the general election, though Harris is always careful to project optimism.
“By the way, we’re gonna win,” she has said at the close of several tense meetings, according to CNN.
One Democrat close to the campaign expressed confidence about how Harris took “an operative’s level of interest in the details.”
“Vice President Harris knows the stakes of this election and is putting in the work to earn — not ask — for the support of the voters who have the most on the line in this election,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a former Harris aide, told the outlet.
But concerns about the oldest-ever president potentially holding office until he turns 86 years old remain high, particularly in the wake of a scathing special counsel report noting his “poor memory” during a federal investigation into his retention of classified documents.
Biden has also not been wholly supportive of Harris’ role in the White House — reportedly preferring Whitmer as his running mate before bowing to pressure to pick the first woman of color to be vice president in US history.
A rep for the veep did not immediately respond to a request for comment.