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Sen. Kamala Harris launches her presidential campaign in Oakland on Jan. 27, 2019. Photo: Jose Carlos Fajardo/MediaNews Group/East Bay Times via Getty Images
What we're hearing about Joe Biden picking Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate from the text chain of the Axios political team.
White House editor Margaret Talev: So far, Harris has been the hardest for Trump to brand. The initial Trump campaign response is to brand her as a sellout willing to look past her earlier concerns about Biden.
- Harris is a Black woman, but also an Indian-American and the daughter of immigrants. This potentially gives her a much broader identification than we usually talk about.
- If Biden, 77, wins and serves only one term, he’ll have positioned Harris, 55, in the lead spot to be the next president.
Alexi McCammond ... Adrianne Shropshire, founder of BlackPAC, which will soon release ads for KDH, just told me:
- "I've of course launched into 'how do we defend against the attacks' mode. I'm trying to remain excited by the amazing history of this moment and the fact that Kamala is built for this moment. But the attacks have already begun and it's important to not let the trolls, racists, and misogynists steal this moment."
Jonathan Swan: Ignore Trumpworld's public crowing over the announcement of Kamala Harris. Very few, if any, of Trump's top political advisers were rooting for Biden to pick Harris.
- One top aide told me she was the one on the shortlist he least wanted Biden to pick. Many on the Trump campaign would have preferred "Communist Karen" Bass or "Spyin' Susan" Rice, who they felt would be more easily branded as a figure to be feared and despised.
- They wanted Biden to pick somebody who would be an avatar for the far-left, and unimpeachable proof that Biden was the radical leftist puppet they are trying to brand him as.
- In the eyes of several senior Trump advisers, Harris doesn't particularly help that endeavor.
Hans Nichols, filing from the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington: Biden is presiding over the transformation of his party. The fact that a Black and Indian-American woman is the safe/conservative choice tells us quite a bit about the party — and (maybe) the country.
- This is a big moment, but the virus is still likely to decide the election: Closed schools, closed economies and closed sports — that’s what is likely to matter.
- The post-announcement fundraising numbers are insane. The enthusiasm is real.