Vice President Harris and President Biden will make their first joint campaign trip next week since he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, the White House announced Friday morning.
Seeking to burnish his legacy in his final months in office and support the new Democratic ticket, the two will travel to Maryland Thursday to “discuss the progress they are making to lower costs for the American people,” the White House said.
Inflation remains a weak spot for Democrats ahead of November’s election.
Harris has fired up the Democratic Party since ascending to the top spot on the ticket after Mr. Biden announced he was leaving the race following a disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump that highlighted concerns about his age and mental acuity.
The first female, Black and South Asian vice president in U.S. history has held a series of packed rallies, pulled in record fundraising amounts and wiped out Trump’s lead in the polls.
In contrast, Mr. Biden has kept a low profile with few public events in what has become a lame duck presidency with nearly six months left until his successor takes power in January.
The president, who is currently spending a long weekend at his Delaware beach house, hadn’t been expected to make any major political appearances in support of Harris until the Democratic National Convention, which starts August 19 in Chicago.
But there have also been signs that Mr. Biden is keen to promote his legacy as he prepares to bow out from a nearly five-decade career in politics.
Part of that is doing whatever he can to help secure Harris’s victory against Trump, his nemesis and the man he beat in the 2020 election.
Harris was a very visible presence at Mr. Biden’s side in a historic moment last week when they both welcomed home U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich and other detainees freed in a huge prisoner swap with Russia.
Politico reported that Harris now wants Mr. Biden’s support in battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan, where he’s still popular, especially with older white voters.
But he would ensure that the spotlight stayed on Harris, embarking mainly on a limited campaign schedule in the fall, the outlet said.
Mr. Biden meanwhile stepped into the breach earlier this week to warn against any repeat of the events after the 2020 election, when Trump disputed his loss and his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
In his first interview since dropping out of the race, the president said in an interview for the upcoming “CBS Sunday Morning” he was “not confident at all” of a peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses a second time.
Another priority for Mr. Biden’s remaining days in office is to push for a ceasefire to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza — an issue that is still dividing Democrats.
Mr. Biden and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar have invited the warring parties to resume talks on August 15 — the same day as his joint appearance with Harris — to push for a deal.
The president and Harris took part in a Situation Room meeting earlier this week about the Middle East situation.
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