WASHINGTON — As Vice President Kamala Harris conceded her loss to Donald Trump, some of her allies blamed her boss, Joe Biden, as they tried to make sense of her defeat.
“The biggest onus of this loss is on President Biden,” said Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination before endorsing Harris.
Biden, who was elected in 2020, sought re-election this year despite relatively low approval ratings and concern about his advancing age.
The 81-year-old dropped out of the race only months prior following a disastrous televised debate against Trump, and growing pressure from his own party.
High-ranking Democrats, including former president Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had nudged him to step down.
He had refused calls to step down for several months, insisting he was up to the challenge of running for president even as polling showed voters thought he was too old for the job.
“If he had stepped down in January instead of July, we may be in a very different place” Yand said.
High-ranking Democrats, including three advisers to Harris’ campaign, expressed frustration with Biden for not dropping out earlier.
Speaking under anonymity they said that Harris, who took over the campaign only 107 days to the election, had little time to differentiate herself from Biden as she hit the campaign trail.
They said that if Biden had stepped aside earlier the party would have been able to hold a primary contest for a presidential candidate.
This would have allowed different nominees to fight for the position of presidential candidate — differentiating themselves from one another and laying out the foundation for a stronger campaign, according to the party members.
Polls released after voting showed that many members of the American public were concerned with high inflation and the immigration system, attributing blame to Biden’s government for soaring costs under his administration.
In a post on X, Harris’ senior adviser David Plouffe didn’t assign blame to Biden, but called the election results a “devastating loss.”
The Harris campaign had “dug out of a deep hole but not enough” he said.
Harris supporters, who attended her concession speech on Wednesday, also said they wished she had more time to make her pitch to voters.
“I think that would have made a huge difference,” said Jerushatalla Pallay, a Howard University student who attended the speech at the centre of her campus.
Biden is set to deliver a speech on Thursday about the election results. He previously praised Harris for running a “historic campaign” under “extraordinary circumstances.”
The president led the US out of the Covid-19 pandemic and counts galvanising international support for Ukraine and passing a $1 trillion infrastructure deal as some of his key achievements.
His Republican rival, Trump, will retake office for a second time four years after he left it in 2020.
Trump has promised to roll back many of Biden’s priorities and radically reshape the federal government of the last four years.
His party are poised to control the White House and Senate, after winning more electoral college votes in key swing states.
On Wednesday, Trump also became the first Republican candidate to win the popular vote in 20 years after he managed to canvas broad support amongst Latino voters in particular.
He also increased his margins amongst young voters and women. — Euronews