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While President Biden was hosting NATO leaders in Washington this week, Vice President Harris had a different mission. She was on the campaign trail to drive home a message that Biden failed to land during his debate two weeks ago that another Trump presidency would hurt the country. As more and more Democrats have expressed worry over Biden staying at the top of the ticket, many are looking at Harris to see if the party's second in command should be the first. NPR's Deepa Shivaram traveled with the vice president this week and brings us the report.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Four more years. Four more years.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: In this convention center in Dallas, among thousands of Black women wearing pink and green, Kamala Harris is among family.
KAMALA HARRIS: Good morning, my sorors (ph).
SHIVARAM: Well, sort of family. She's here to address Alpha Kappa Alpha, the sorority she joined when she was a student at Howard University.
HARRIS: All of us here are clear. While we have come a mighty long way, we have more work to do.
SHIVARAM: If Biden and Harris want to win what's expected to be a very close election, it's rooms like these they need to rally. Black voters and voters of color are a critical bloc for the Democratic Party, and their turnout in close states will be essential. So that's why Harris is out on the road, talking about issues like health care, student debt and gun violence. And at every stop, she brings up things that she says disqualifies Trump to get another term. In Las Vegas, at an event with Asian American voters, Harris links the former president to the rise in anti-Asian hate during COVID.
HARRIS: That someone who vilifies immigrants, who promotes xenophobia, someone who stokes hate should never again have the chance to stand behind a microphone...
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HARRIS: ...And the seal of the president of the United States.
SHIVARAM: At all her stops, she ties Trump to new abortion restrictions that came after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and she says Trump would scale back more rights. And then in Greensboro, N.C., Harris lauds Biden for strengthening NATO, calling out Trump for his relationship with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
HARRIS: And as Trump bows down to dictators, he makes America weak. And that is disqualifying for someone who wants to be commander in chief of the United States of America. That is disqualifying.
SHIVARAM: But meanwhile, conversations in Washington continue to swirl about whether Biden should drop out of the race, given the concerns about his age and energy. And now there are many who are pointing to Harris, saying she should have the top spot. Biden says he's determined to run and is the best candidate to win. But in a closely watched press conference, he also praised his vice president.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I wouldn't have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president. From the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That's why I picked her.
SHIVARAM: Some voters agree. Here's John Rodill (ph), who I met at Harris' rally in Vegas.
JOHN RODILL: If Biden to drop out for whatever reason, I think she's demonstrated she's strong enough to carry a ticket. She covered every single thing that we're concerned about, and she covered every single thing that Trump screwed up. So she nailed it.
SHIVARAM: Former aides say moments like this show how Harris is good in the clutch. Jill Habig worked with Harris when she was an attorney general and senator.
JILL HABIG: There are some politicians, there are some leaders, some people who get kind of rudderless at a crisis. They start to question everything and sort of flutter around. And what I've observed from her is that she is the opposite. She gets centered.
SHIVARAM: Despite the extra scrutiny, Harris is trying to show that things for her are business as usual. She's not commenting on all the speculation, and she's standing firm with Biden. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, the White House. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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