Kamala Harris’ allies strategize in case Biden drops out

Vice President Kamala Harris‘ allies are privately discussing what her candidacy would look like if President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for the White House and how they could help her, following Biden’s disastrous debate performance Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.

These conversations have been held over phone calls and text messages between some people who raised money for the vice president during her failed 2020 Democratic primary campaign against Biden and other contenders, said the people, who were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about private conversations.

Key issues include whether Harris would control the massive Biden-Harris campaign war chest managed by Biden’s team if the president were to drop out of the race.

Harris has emerged as an early favorite to replace the president at the top of the ticket, but this does not guarantee that the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will not feature more contenders and a potentially messy battle for the nomination.

Harris would likely have the keys to most of the money, according to Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who acknowledged the rules during a recent call with party donors. Biden’s campaign began June with $91 million in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission records. The entire political operation, which includes Biden’s joint fundraising committees, entered July with $240 million on hand, according to the campaign.

There’s also discussion among Harris confidants about the need to begin scheduling meetings for the vice president with some of the biggest donors in the Democratic Party if Biden drops out, these people said.

Harris’ allies have been pushing other donors and party officials to reconsider the potential advantages the vice president’s policy portfolio could bring to a Democratic campaign platform: Her focus on reproductive rights, her outreach to Black voters and marginalized communities and her remarks in February in Germany, when she emphasized the strength of U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invasion, according to a person familiar with the engagement.

Some of Harris’ past fundraisers are also texting one another an old one-minute video that features the vice president taking on former President Donald Trump’s appointees while she was a U.S. senator, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. It shows clips of Harris facing off with the likes of former Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions and then Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The video also underscores a key message, they say: Harris’ willingness to confront Trump’s allies shows that she has what it takes to go face to face against the former president. “Taking on Trump one on one, Kamala will use her backbone, her values, and her experience as a prosecutor to expose Trump,” a voiceover for the advertisement says.

The video was produced for a political action committee called “People Standing…