Vice President Kamala Harris returned to the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday for her latest event focused on protecting reproductive rights.
“The government should not be telling her what to do with her body!” Harris said at one point during a moderated conversation with the actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Harris has participated in more than 85 events focused on the topic.
Last week, she traveled to Georgia to talk about economic opportunities for Black Americans and the importance of “[recognizing] the disparities that have existed.”
The week before that, the vice president was in Wisconsin for a roundtable with nurses and labor leaders.
“This is about dignity,” Harris said.
Week after week, Harris is darting across the country in what’s become a high-profile role supporting her boss, President Joe Biden, and their reelection bid.
A Biden-Harris campaign official tells Spectrum News that, to date, Harris has made 40 trips to 16 states in 2024.
Her events have been focused on issues like reproductive rights, the economy, democracy, and gun violence. Many are geared toward Black, Latino, and young voters – key pieces of the Democratic coalition whose enthusiasm for Biden, in some cases, has softened after helping him win four years ago.
The official said Harris has also conducted more than 50 interviews with a range of media outlets.
“She's an asset in many cases because she also represents the communities that they're talking about,” Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross told Spectrum News.
While Harris made history in 2020 as the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American to win the vice presidency, Cross argues she has proven herself as a leader separate from her gender or race. Cross cites Harris’ role on the world stage representing Biden and her work on issues like housing.
“I think the trajectory of her vice presidency is extremely positive,” said Joel Goldstein, a professor emeritus at the Saint Louis University School of Law who is a leading vice presidential scholar.
Goldstein said Harris’ time in the 2024 campaign is being spent on many of the same issues she has worked on since taking office.
“When you look at the way in which Vice President Harris has been used, both domestically and internationally, it suggests that she is somebody who the president relies on,” he told Spectrum News.
Cross, the strategist, said she gets frustrated when governors like California’s Gavin Newsrom or Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer are featured in discussions of the Democratic Party’s future, but not the current second-in-command.
“Rarely do we hear about the sitting Vice President of the United States. And that would not happen in any other administration. It happens solely in this case because she is a Black woman,” Cross said.
One reason Harris has been left out of those conversations is her low approval ratings.
When former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley was running for president, she seemed to allude to those polls by frequently speaking about the possibility of Harris taking over for the 81-year-old Biden, if they won a second term.
“We cannot have Kamala Harris as president. We can’t chance this,” Haley told Fox News last August.
Former President Donald Trump has made fewer mentions of Harris on the trail recently. But at a rally he held in Freeland, Michigan, last week, Spectrum News saw merchandise being sold that featured Harris’ name and sexist language.
Biden supporters in Michigan praised Harris. In Dearborn, April Major said this when asked how Biden is doing.
“He’s doing pretty good! He’s got Kamala with him. I trust her,” she said.
Goldstein, the vice presidential scholar, said most voters decide who to support based on the top of the presidential ticket. But he said vice presidential running mates can prove to be influential at the margins.
Goldstein said once Trump chooses a running mate for his third White House bid, it will set up a clearer contest for Harris and her counterpart.