UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris handed over the podium to President Biden on Thursday, dozens of attendees at a joint event simply stood up and left rather than listen to the retiring commander-in-chief.
The rude demonstration was a stark showing of the enthusiasm gap among Democrats revved up by Harris’ sudden elevation as the party’s presidential nominee after Biden dropped out last month — amid reporting that Harris, 59, is seeking to redefine herself to gain distance from the unpopular incumbent.
Adding insult to injury, when Biden, who regularly suffered low attendance at his own election rallies this year, and Harris greeted an overflow room, he was accused by multiple irate protesters of facilitating “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
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Harris, whose own positions on an array of issues have shifted since her 2020 candidacy for the White House, sought to tie herself to Biden’s relatively popular prescription drug policy after she’s drawn implicit distinctions elsewhere.
About2,300people showed up to the event at Prince George’s Community College, according to the White House — standing in long, sweltering lines outside in bright sun and near-90-degree heat.
The event ostensibly was to celebrate the announcement of 10 prescription drug prices that will be lowered for senior citizens enrolled in Medicare Part D — with those savingstaking effect in 2026, reducing both consumer and government costs.
When enacted, seniors are expected to shell out $1.5 billion less per year for the group of drugs, includingdiabetes drug Januvia, arthritis medication Enbrel and blood-clot pill Eliquis.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been campaigning on his own plan to save the elderly money by eliminating taxes on Social Security income.
Attendees streaming into theBiden-Harris event said they expected it to feel like a rally for Harris, who would be America’s first female and second non-white president if she prevails on Nov. 5.
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Harris, who has regularly spoken to crowds topping 10,000 since becoming the substitute presidential candidate, served as a cheerleader for Biden, politely leading the crowd Thursday in chanting “Thank you Joe!” when referencing the drug-price reform, which was brought about by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to pass that law, which also committed $369 billion to environmental projects, including grants to renewable energy companies and tax breaks for consumers, $64 billion to extend more generous Obamacare health insurance subsidies and $4 billion to Western wildfire resilience.
Biden dropped his re-election bid on July 21 and endorsed Harris — following a Democratic mutiny over concerns about his mental acuity following his disastrous June 27 debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
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The sitting president appeared confused at that debate — claiming at one point he “finally beat Medicare.”
Biden seemed to recycle that badly botched line in his Thursday remarks, saying, “We finally beat Big Pharma.”
Although Biden urged the nation to“lower the temperature”of the electioncampaign last month after Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt, he used violent verbiage at the suburban Maryland event.
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”Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is: Beat the hell out of them,” Biden said.
Earlier in the day, Biden hit back at rumors and reports that Harris intends to draw distance from him on policy.“She’s not going to,” he replied when asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy about Harris potentially differentiating herself on economic policy.
Ahead of Harris’ big speech on inflation set for Friday,Axios reportedthat she is seeking to set herself apart from Biden in areas where he is unpopular — with inflation and illegal immigration among the top liabilities.
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During that speech, she is expected to lay out a plan for a federal ban on price gouging, something that astudy for the Federal Reservesuggested was not the main driver of the post-pandemic inflation, which has sent consumer costs soaring 20% since Biden and Harris took office.
Biden also has tried to blame price gouging— as Republicans blamed his large spending bills and his foreign and energy policies — but spent much of his presidency playing defense, with polling showing he was unpersuasive.
Despite being tapped by Biden to reduce illegal immigration in early 2021 and showing a clear disinterest in the role of so-called “border czar,” Harris has in recent public remarks reached back to her role as a prosecutor in California combating criminal groups as a preemptive defense, while shielding herself against early criticism on that front by not giving any press interviews as a candidate.
Some of her areas of distinction with Biden rest in perceptible shifts in tone — if not necessarily substance — such as her July 25 remarks that Israel waskilling “far too many” civiliansin the Gaza Strip. Although the words hardly differ from Biden’s own, they have served to stave off almost all anti-Israel heckling at her rallies, which had plagued Biden’s events this year.
Harris’ precise stance on issues has shifted since she first sought to woo more progressive Democratic primary voters in the 2020 election.
Although she claimed at the time she would ban fracking for natural gas, decriminalize illegal border crossings and push for single-payer healthcare, she has distanced herself from or disavowed those stands.
