As Joe Biden faces more calls to step down as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, division is growing in the party about who should replace him should he go.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, who previously ran against Mr Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, has said vice president Kamala Harris is “ready” if he bows out.
“What gives me a lot of hope right now is that, if President Biden decides to step back, we have vice president Kamala Harris who is ready to step up to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump and to win in November,” she told MSNBC.
Thirty-six Democrats are now calling for the president to step aside, although vice president Harris tweeted her support on Saturday.
If chosen to replace him, Ms Harris would be the party’s first woman, first black person and first person of South Asian descent to be the presidential nominee but not everyone is behind her.
Officials from the highest ranks, including former speaker Nancy Pelosi, prefer an open process to choose a replacement, believing it would strengthen a Democratic nominee when they confronted Republican Donald Trump.
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez told her Instagram followers on Friday: “If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave… that they will support Kamala, vice president Harris, you would be mistaken.
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“A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in removing the whole ticket.”
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The vice president hit the campaign trail on Saturday as Joe Biden was recovering from COVID in isolation.
She did not refer to the turmoil that has surrounded Mr Biden’s candidacy, instead focusing on positive messaging for her sold-out crowd in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
“We are going to win this election,” Ms Harris said.
“It’s not going to be easy, but we are a group of people that understand anything worthwhile takes hard work.”
Meanwhile, Mr Trump appeared at a campaign rally for the first time since Thomas Matthew Crooks shot him in the ear last week in Pennsylvania.
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He had previously sported a large white bandage on his right ear but opted to remove it for Saturday’s rally, instead sporting a smaller, beige-coloured bandage.
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“They keep saying [I’m] a threat to democracy,” he told his supporters.
“I’m saying, what the hell did I do for democracy? Last week, I took a bullet for democracy. What did I do against democracy?”
