Biden says Harris will cut her own path as President, perspective will be fresh and new

President Biden gives Kamala Harris room to define her own path in the 2024 election, distancing herself from his legacy.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday (October 15, 2024) said Kamala Harris would “cut her own path” once she wins the 2024 election, allowing for more daylight between him and his Vice-President as she works to win over skeptical voters three weeks before Election Day.

“Kamala will take the country in her own direction, and that's one of the most important differences in this election,” he said.

“Kamala's perspective on our problems will be fresh and new. Donald Trump's perspective old and failed and quite frankly, thoroughly totally dishonest.”

Mr. Biden's comments may give Ms. Harris more license to stake out her own political and policy stances in the critical closing phase of the Presidential race and appear to go further to distance the two than Ms. Harris has herself. The Vice-President's aides have privately expressed some frustration that the 81-year-old President has been too focused on his own legacy — and not the race to succeed him.

But Ms. Harris has of late faced increasing pressure to articulate how she'd govern differently from Me. Biden, a question trickier than it seems on the surface.

While Mr. Biden's favorability ratings remain underwater, some of the biggest pieces of his legislative agenda, from infrastructure to lowering the costs of some prescription drugs, are popular, and signaling any daylight with the president on foreign policy at a time of global crises could be seen as reckless.

Ms. Harris herself has been loathe to do anything that could be perceived as disloyal to Mr. Biden, who elevated her from a first-term senator to the vice presidency and then handed the reins of his political operation over to her, endorsing Harris when he dropped out of the race in July.