Bernie Sanders praised Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s pick for his running mate on Sunday, as the Democratic party attempted to project an image of unity ahead of this week’s national convention, where Biden is set to be officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate.
Sanders, the progressive Vermont senator who clashed with both Biden and Harris earlier this year when the three were vying for their party’s presidential nomination, lauded Harris as “an asset”.
“I believe that Kamala, as somebody who has known her for a number of years, is incredibly smart, tough, and I would not want to be Vice-President [Mike] Pence in a debate with her,” Sanders said in an appearance on ABC’s This Week.
“I think she’s an asset for the Biden campaign and I think she’s going to do great on the campaign trail.”
Q&A
What happens at the Democratic National Convention?
The Democratic National Convention (DNC), and its Republican counterpart (RNC), are traditionally two of the most high-profile weeks of the US election cycle – a mix of political business, theater and party, in both senses of the word.
Tens of thousands of people usually attend the week-long events. Party delegates from across the country converge on a city to hold meetings and events. They fill a big arena to say something prideful about their state and cheer wildly for the party’s candidate for president, who officially receives the nomination here.
During the convention, politicians and/or celebrities give speeches in support of the party’s candidate, who gives a rousing speech to cap it all off.
This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the DNC will be completely different. Almost all aspects have moved online.
Billie Eilish and John Legend are among the celebrity performers, and key speakers will include presidential nominee, Joe Biden, his running mate, Kamala Harris, political power couples the Obamas and the Clintons, and progressive superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Sanders, the last candidate running before Biden secured enough votes to win the nomination during the primary campaign, has previously been vocal in his criticism of his more moderate rivals, attacking their stances on universal healthcare in particular.
Sanders’ former press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, tweeted that the Democrats’ choice of Harris, a California senator and the state’s former attorney general who she called a “top cop”, showed contempt for the party’s base at a time of renewed anti-police protests across the US.
Sanders, however, said the party was united in its goal. “Obviously there may be disagreements, a lot of my supporters are not enthusiastic about Joe Biden,” he said.
“But I think there is an overwhelming understanding that Donald Trump must be defeated, Biden must be elected, and the day after he is elected we will do everything we can to create a government that works for all of us.”
Cory Booker, Democratic senator for New Jersey and another former candidate for the nomination, defended Harris, who is biracial and identifies as Black, against recent attacks from Trump that she was “extraordinarily nasty,”, “a horrible woman,” and “mean”.
“The words the president has been using reflects the demeaning, degrading language he’s used about Blacks,” he said on Sunday.
“Donald Trump can pick a fight if he wants but he’s the proverbial bully in the playground that’s about to get knocked out when he steps up against this dynamic duo that will beat him in November.”
The convention comes as Trump faces mounting criticism over the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed almost 170,000 people in the US and infected more than 5.3 million, according to Johns Hopkins – more than any other country in the world by far.
In recent days Trump has also been under fire for attacking the US Postal Service and mail-in voting, both of which will be crucial for minimizing the risk to voters in the November election.
Sanders told NBC’s Meet the Press that Congress needed to act fast to address the issue.
“This, again, is not a debate about the Postal Service alone,” Sanders said. “That’s important. This is about the future of American democracy and whether people have a right to participate.”
“This is a crisis for American democracy,” Sanders added. “We have got to act and act now.”
Opinion polls show American voters appear to approve of Biden’s choice of Harris. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Sunday found that 54% of respondents were in favour while only 29% disapproved. Among Black voters, 78% approved.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, meanwhile, shows Biden retaining a sizeable lead over Trump nationally. The results showed 50% of voters approved of Biden with 41% for the Republican incumbent.
Biden and Harris will formally accept their party’s nomination this week at the culmination of the four-day convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The event, which begins Monday, was planned as a jamboree with delegates from every state but was massively scaled down to a mostly virtual gathering by the coronavirus pandemic. The Republican national convention is due to take place next week.
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