Harris’s team, meanwhile, fixated on the size of her chair
After former president Joe Biden bowed out of the 2024 race in favor of his vice president, Kamala Harris, he “demanded” loyalty from Harris so that he could protect his legacy, a new book reveals.
Biden “had no interest” in giving Harris room to “forge her own path” ahead of the election, journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes write in their forthcoming book, Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House, according to excerpts published by The Hill.
During Harris’s campaign, Biden “would say publicly that Harris should do what she must to win,” a book excerpt reads. “But privately, including in conversations with her, he repeated an admonition: let there be no daylight between us.” He had used the same phrase in 2008 to tie John McCain to George W. Bush, Allen and Parnes note.
Former Biden aides, who filled major roles in Harris’s campaign, reinforced that message at every turn, according to the book.
Hours before Harris faced Republican nominee Donald Trump during the September 10 debate, Biden called her with another reminder of “the loyalty he demanded.”
“No daylight, kid,” Biden told Harris, making clear that he “expected Harris to protect his legacy”—no matter “whether she won or lost the election.”
Harris, however, did have control over one aspect of her campaign—the size of her chair. Her team thought she had appeared small next to her running mate, Tim Walz, in an interview and became fixated on ensuring that she would project a more imposing presence on camera.
“For the rest of the campaign, her team required that she be provided a chair that met certain specifications,” the book states: “‘Leg height no less than 15 inches; floor to top of seat height no less than 18.9 inches; arms on chairs may not be very high, arms must fall at a natural height; chairs must be firm.'”
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