Kamala Harris ready to take over if Biden resigns

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, stressed her support for President Joe Biden on Saturday but said Vice President Kamala Harris was ready to step in if the 81-year-old chief executive dropped out of the race.

“Joe Biden is our nominee,” Warren told MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” adding that Biden has a “big decision to make” as speculation continues to swirl about whether he will drop out of the 2024 presidential campaign.

A Suffolk University and Boston Globe poll released Friday showed that nearly two-thirds of Democrats and left-leaning voters in the state want someone other than Biden at the top of their ticket this fall.

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“But what gives me a lot of hope right now is that if President Biden decides to step down, we have Vice President Kamala Harris, who is ready to step up to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump and to win in November,” Warren said.

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Warren’s response came in response to comments by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., that some in the Democratic Party “are not just interested in removing the president. They want to eliminate the entire ticket.”

Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, has said he plans to return to the campaign trail in the coming days. He has insisted he will remain in the race against Trump, even as calls for him to step down grow louder in some Democratic circles.

On Saturday, The Guardian, citing NBC News, reported that former President Bill Clinton and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, support Biden remaining in the race and have urged donors to stick with him.

Warren told NBC News that she has known the vice president for 15 years, since she created the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Harris was California’s elected attorney general.

“Kamala has led the charge to fight Republicans who want a nationwide abortion ban. And look, if you’re running against a convicted felon, then a prosecutor like Kamala is really the perfect person to take on your case,” Warren told MSNBC. “No matter what happens, I’m going to be out there fighting for Democrats. I believe we’re going to come together and we’re going to win in November.”

Harris is expected to travel to Provincetown on Saturday for a Democratic fundraiser at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum, according to news reports.