Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) declined to identify Vice President Kamala Harris as the “future of the Democratic Party” when asked Sunday by “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker.
“I see her as a part of that future, absolutely,” he said.
But Welker pushed him: “Is she the future, though? Is she the future of the Democratic Party?”
Clyburn, whose endorsement of Joe Biden ahead of the South Carolina primary in 2020 was instrumental in his win, only said Harris “could very well be” but that it’s not a guarantee.
“She is running a very good campaign ... and I look to her as a successor to this president but I also know the history of that as well,” he replied. “It’s not a given. You don’t automatically move up. She’ll have to compete going forward with whoever may have dreams and aspirations - and I think she will acquit herself well.”
WATCH: Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) stops short of calling Vice President Harris the future of the Democratic Party.@RepJamesClyburn: “She could very well be … It’s not a given. You don’t automatically move up. She’ll have to compete.” pic.twitter.com/lttqy5OgHw
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 24, 2023
But Americans aren’t so sure, it seems, as the vice president has a lower favorability than even Biden, 31 percent to the president’s 39 percent, in an NBC News survey released Sunday.
Welker wondered why that was the case.
“I think when you compare the first woman of color and first woman to be vice president of the United States, and compare that to all of the history before, you will get that,” Clyburn answered. “I think that during this campaign, she will demonstrate — as she did in that hall last night — that she knows exactly what she’s doing. She has the capacity and the capability to be president of the United States if called upon to do so.”
Amid concerns over President Biden's age, Harris said recently she's ready, "if necessary," to be president.
“I’m answering your hypothetical," she told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan, "but Joe Biden is going to be fine, so that is not going to come to fruition.”
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