As President Biden, the oldest president ever, gears up for a potential reelection campaign in 2024, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Sunday that Biden’s age puts a spotlight on Vice President Harris.
Christie said on ABC’s “This Week” that if Biden, 80, decides to run in 2024, voters would be paying sharper attention to Harris, and the possibility that she could become president.
“If you’re voting for Joe Biden, you may be voting for President Kamala Harris too, and how do you feel about that?” Christie asked. “We’ve never had an 82-year-old run for reelection. This starkly puts the vice presidency in focus for people.”
As questions swirl around whether the president will run for reelection, the expectation is that Biden will announce a campaign in the next few weeks. Many, including Christie, interpreted Biden’s State of the Union address last week as a launch point for his 2024 run.
“He’s running, there’s no doubt about it,” Christie said. “That speech was obviously a campaign speech.”
But Christie questioned whether Biden would consider replacing Harris with some other candidate that could boost him in a reelection bid, asking whether Harris is actually the “most powerful Black woman in the party.”
“She has the highest position in the party,” Christie said. “But when you look at the way the public views her, there are a number of other very qualified African American women who the president could pick.”
Harris is more unpopular than Biden, according to polling aggregated by FiveThirtyEight. which notes Biden has an average approval rating of 42.7 percent, while Harris’s approval rating averages 40.5 percent.
Christie conceded, though, that it is likely Biden would keep Harris as his running mate.