Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday distanced herself from President Joe Biden’s controversial comments that appeared to label supporters of former President Donald Trump as ” “Rubbish.”
“I strongly disagree with any criticism based on who people voted for,” Harris told reporters before the Democratic presidential candidate flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, for a campaign event.
“You heard my speech last night. I believe the job I do is to represent everyone, whether they support me or not,” Harris said. “I will be a president for all Americans.”
Harris also said Biden had “clarified” comments he made on Tuesday.
But she stressed that with less than a week until Election Day, her campaign is looking for any votes she can get and is eager not to lose any.
“I’m going to spend all my time talking to people, no matter who they voted for last time,” Harris said.
The vice president said she spoke with Biden on Tuesday night, but they did not discuss what he said earlier that night.
Biden was on a video call Tuesday about outreach to Latino voters before the conversation turned to several racist remarks made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a rally for the Republican nominee and former president in New York City on Sunday. joke.
“Just the other day, a speaker at a rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,'” Biden said by phone.
“They are good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said of Puerto Ricans. “The only trash I see is from his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American. It’s the complete opposite of everything we do.”
The remarks quickly drew criticism from Republicans who support Trump. Within hours, the White House took the rare step of releasing a revised version of Biden’s speech. In this version, Biden appears to be saying “trash” is Hinchcliffe’s demonization of Latinos, not a Trump supporter.
Biden himself then took the even more unusual step of issuing a statement of his own, insisting he didn’t mean to call Trump supporters “trash.”
“Earlier today, I called the hateful speech Trump supporters made about Puerto Rico at the Madison Square Garden rally trash — that’s the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden said late Tuesday night said in a tweet.
“His demonization of Latinos is unjustified. That’s all I’m saying. The comments made at that rally are not reflective of who we are as a country.”
Despite the cleanup effort, Biden’s comments – subverted or otherwise – throw a wrench into the Harris campaign’s plans to emphasize her commitment to governing for all Americans, regardless of party.
Instead, Harris allies appearing on Wednesday’s morning news programs had to answer questions about Biden’s remarks.
Biden’s comments also complicate the Harris campaign’s plan to use Hinchcliffe’s jokes about Puerto Rico to generate backlash.
Pennsylvania may be the most valuable swing state in the 2024 election, with nearly 500,000 Puerto Rican residents, who make up the largest share of the state’s Latino voters.
Hinchcliffe’s comments are likely to alienate at least some Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
In the 2016 election, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania by less than 45,000 votes, or less than 1% of the vote.
In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in the state by less than 81,000 votes, a margin of less than 1.2%.
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