Kamala Harris says she and Biden will need to ‘earn our reelect’ with black voters in 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris seemingly fessed up to difficulties driving home her and President Biden’s message to black voters — saying the pair will have to “earn our reelect” in 2024.

Harris, in an interview with CNN published Sunday, suggested that the Biden administration’s “really long” list of achievements for black Americans makes it difficult to ensure that the message is heard.

“In some ways,” she told the outlet, “actually, probably there’s a hindrance, in that the list is really long, and we have to triage around what we repeat over and over again to make sure that it resonates and it’s actually heard.”

Harris, who infrequently gives interviews, has long been bullish on the Biden campaign’s chances of winning, contending that the stakes are too high given former President Donald Trump’s chances of cinching the GOP nomination.

Still, she stressed that the Biden-Harris campaign isn’t taking reelection for granted.

“We’re going to have to earn our reelect, there’s no doubt about it,” she told CNN during the phone interview aboard Air Force Two following a trip earlier this month to officially file for the Democratic primary in South Carolina.

A deluge of Democrats have voiced frustrations over the campaign’s messaging strategy more broadly, distraught at polls where voters give Biden poor marks on the economy despite low levels of unemployment.

Republicans have long pummeled Biden on inflation and his energy policies.

Many Democrats, such as former press secretary to the First Lady, Michael LaRosa, have demanded a messaging recalibration and urged Biden to drop the “Bidenomics” rhetoric.

Harris touted the administration’s efforts to champion issues many young voters care about such as the fight against climate change, curtailing gun violence, safeguarding the right to abortion, and more.

“The president has been resolute, he has been firm, he has been consistent on seeing the challenges that young people in America face and addressing them with real solutions,” she insisted to CNN.

She also explained that she’s not comparing “this cycle with what previous vice presidents have done in a reelect.”

“I have a great sense of duty and responsibility to do as much as I can, to be where the people are and to not only speak with them, but listen to them and let them know what we’ve accomplished.”

Recently, many younger Democrats appear to have splintered with party elders over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Some recent polling has shown the incumbent president down with younger voters ages 18 to 34, a bloc Biden won by 26-points in 2020.

Trump topped Biden with younger voters 46% to 42%, according to a recent NBC poll.

Trump is up against Biden by up 1.6 percentage points in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polling. 

The South Carolina primary on Feb. 3, 2024, will be the first recognized primary contest for Democrats, though New Hampshire is planning to hold an earlier unsanctioned one.

The 2024 general election will take place on Nov. 5, 2024.