Kamala Harris is looking for a smooth transition to the top of the Democratic ticket, as she announced Monday that President Joe Biden’s campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, will run her campaign.
Taking the reins of the Biden operation in Wilmington, Del., the vice president vowed to work over the next 106 days to defeat former President Donald Trump.
“We have work to do,” she said. “We have doors to knock on. We have people to talk to. We have phone calls to make. And we have an election to win.”
The speech marked Harris’ first extended remarks since Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday. She has worked since to consolidate the Democratic Party behind her, and no one has yet emerged to challenge her for the nomination in Chicago on Aug. 19.
Biden, who has endorsed Harris, called in to the meeting. His campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, will stay on board the Harris campaign.
In her comments, Harris revived some of themes of her brief run for the presidency in 2019, highlighting her background as a prosecutor as an asset in taking on Trump.
“I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” she said. “Hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.”
She said she planned to focus on stopping Trump’s “extreme Project 2025” agenda, and defending the right to abortion.
Trump’s campaign managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, distributed a memo Monday afternoon outlining their plans to take on the “dangerously liberal” vice president.
“Same year — same people — same record of failure — same result,” the memo stated, noting the intent to saddle Harris with responsibility for inflation and the “border invasion.”
“The liberal elite and deep state — sensing the American public’s disgust with their lawfare, and now in a desperate Hail Mary — have swapped out an incumbent President for the incumbent Vice President in a ploy to try and shake up the race,” the memo continued. “The problem for the left and media elite? Kamala Harris is as bad, if not worse, than Joe Biden.”