President Biden is expressing new interest in whether Vice President Kamala Harris could defeat former President Trump in the 2024 election, according to a report from the New York Times.
While Biden and his staff have publicly insisted that he is staying in the race, the 81-year-old is reportedly now asking whether Harris could win. Several polls show Harris matching or even exceeding Biden's performance against Trump as waves of Democrats call on Biden to withdraw.
"To some degree, the vice president is auditioning now for the job and they should help her lean in and I think her leaning in could be beneficial to bolstering Biden" whether he steps aside or not, former Harris aide Ashley Etienne told the Times.
Harris stands as the most obvious candidate to replace Biden thanks in large part to her presumed access to the Biden-Harris war chest should the president withdraw. Any other candidate would face an uncertain path to accessing the tens of millions of dollars donated throughout the race.
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The White House pushed back on the Times report in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying Biden locked in on campaigning.
"That claim is false and The New York Times did not ask us about it. As Jen O’Malley Dillon said, he ‘is more committed than ever.’ And as you heard from the President, he looks forward to campaigning this week," said White House spokesman Andrew Bates.
Democrats have largely coalesced around Harris being the replacement for Biden should he withdraw, though there remains a question about how she could best assume the role.
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"Most Democrats think it should be an open process," former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., told the Times. "What I would say is the best thing is for Kamala Harris is to win a contested convention fight because it would legitimize her candidacy. If it’s a backroom deal, you haven’t earned it and people want you to earn it. And once you earn it, you get a huge bounce."
A Friday poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about six in 10 Democrats believe Harris would do a good job as president herself. About two in 10 Democrats don’t believe she would, and another two in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.
Polls show Democratic voters have continued to sour on Biden as well. A Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of Massachusetts residents found that 64% of likely Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters want someone other than Biden to face off against Trump. The AP-NORC national survey likewise found that 65% of Democrats say Biden should drop out of the race.
Fox News' Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report
