The one person not talking about Joe Biden? VP Kamala Harris
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Essence Festival of Culture at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Saturday. Photo: Josh Brasted/FilmMagic
President Biden's future might be on nearly every American voter's mind, but he was practically a nonentity in Vice President Kamala Harris' Essence Fest appearance in New Orleans on Saturday.
Why it matters: Less than 24 hours after Biden's underwhelming ABC interview only ramped up calls for him to step aside, Harris mentioned her boss only once during a half-hour Q&A with Essence Ventures CEO Caroline Wanga — and Wanga wasn't asking about him, either.
Zoom in: Essence Fest, now in its 30th year, is an enormous cultural festival for Black women, and Harris has been a regular visitor for years. But this time, the spotlight on her was harsher and brighter, since Biden's debate performance raised her as a clear alternative to the president.
- Appearing at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, an unruffled Harris kept her comments laser-focused on rousing voters — but not on Biden.
- On the way to the green room, Harris paused to wave to supporters and snap photos, including with Rep. Troy Carter, who spoke on a panel before her appearance.
- Then, as she stepped onto the main stage, it was to Beyonce singing, "I'mma keep runnin' 'cause a winner don't quit on themselves."
The intrigue: Despite the event's title, "Chief to Chief," emblazoned on the conference screen behind her, Harris is still the picture of a woman with her next move unclear.
- Whether it'll be a sidestep into the wings or to take her to centerstage, she remains in a position every woman knows well: waiting on an older white man to make a decision.
- She might not have had any audience more empathetic to that experience than the one Essence Fest provides.
- As Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said in a panel prior to the Q&A, Harris is "a sister who came here to be with us today … [and] we're gonna have a sister to still be in the White House fighting for us and making a difference" after the election.
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In the conversation, Wanga gave Harris an opportunity to reintroduce herself.
- That included a reminder of her work as a prosecutor, which she presented as a foil to former president Trump's status as a convicted felon, and recapping her work in the Biden administration to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
- It also included stumping for plans for a next term, like keeping medical debt from being used to calculate credit scores, raising the federal minimum wage and addressing the cost of child care.
- But she stopped short of asking for support for Biden by name.
"This is probably the most significant election of our lifetime. We have said it every four years, but this here one is it," Harris said, emphasizing the last word. "In 122 days, we each have the power to decide what kind of country we want to live in."
Zoom out: Earlier on the same stage, a panel with representatives from the Congressional Black Caucus didn't echo calls from some Democrats for the president to step aside.
- Teeing up Harris' Q&A, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) spoke in support of the current president and got the crowd hooting, hollering and on its feet with insults to Trump.
- "There ain't gonna be no other Democratic candidate," she said. "It's gonna be Biden, and you better know."
- Beatty said: "We've all had a bad day. But when [Sen.] Mitch McConnell froze up, no one asked him to step down. … Don't get out there turning your back on this president."
Yes, but: Harris may have a better shot at winning in November than Biden does.
- A post-debate CNN poll gives Harris an edge over Biden and shows her neck-and-neck with Trump, a fact that worries his camp.
