The outgoing chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a wide-ranging interview published on Friday that the party should have stuck with President Biden as their nominee during the 2024 election.
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison called Biden “the most successful of my lifetime legislative president” in the interview with The Associated Press, noting that the former president had poured resources into making sure members of his party got elected to office.
“And then when he hits a roadblock, when he hits a bump in the road, do we stick with him, or do we jettison him? That’s the mentality that I had going into this,” Harrison told the AP.
“And my nature is, ‘I’m on the team with you, you’re my quarterback. You got sacked a few times. But you know what? I’m going to block the hell out of the next person that’s coming at you,’” he added “And that is not always the mentality of everybody in my party. And so sometimes, people look on the sidelines, ready to call in the backup.”
Harrison’s remarks suggesting Biden should have stayed in the race are notable given members of the party have said post-election that the former president should have dropped out sooner amid concerns over their chances to win the White House and other key races.
Many Democrats have argued that they again lost the White House to President Trump because former Vice President Harris didn’t have enough time to campaign and have voters hear her message. Others believe the party lost because Democrats weren’t talking about the issues that mattered to voters or suffered from a tarnished brand.
“Had she had more runway, it would have been probably easier for her and for the campaign. We were building a race for Joe Biden,” Harrison told the news service.
Harrison is set to pass on the reins to the next DNC chair Saturday, when DNC committee members vote on the next person to helm the national party. State party chairs Ken Martin of Minnesota and Ben Wikler of Wisconsin in addition to former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley are seen as the top contenders.
Harrison in the interview argued that “the DNC shouldn’t just be a rubber stamp to whatever the campaign wants,” when asked about changes that the national party needed to make going forward.
“You don’t always have a seat at the table, in terms of, you take all of the arrows and the responsibility,” he said. “People want to give you all the blame, but you don’t have the power to make those decisions, and I really think there needs to be reapportionment of a better, a greater balance.”
