On Monday morning, Vice President Kamala Harris made her first public appearance since President Joe Biden suspended his reelection bid and endorsed her to be the Democratic nominee for president.
Speaking to national championship student athletes and administrators who came to the White House to celebrate “College Athlete Day,” Harris began her remarks by praising Biden. The president typically attends the annual event, but Biden is still quarantining with COVID-19.
“I want to say a few words about our president,” Harris said. “Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history.”
In his single term in office, Harris said, Biden “has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.”
Harris spoke about meeting Biden’s late son, Beau, who served as attorney general of Delaware while Harris held the same position in California. “Beau would often tell me stories about his dad,” Harris said. “He would talk about the kind of father and the kind of man that Joe Biden is.”
She extolled the qualities Biden lives by, noting that the “qualities Beau revered in his father” are “the same qualities I have seen every day in our president: his honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart and his love, deep love, of our country.”
Harris made no reference to Biden’s decision to drop out of the race or endorse her for president.
Biden abruptly announced his intentions to end his reelection bid in a letter Sunday afternoon. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
In a follow-up post on X, he announced his support for Harris to be the party’s nominee. Picking Harris as his vice president was “the best decision I’ve made,” he wrote.