Harris under pressure to outline stakes of the election as Biden faces calls to step aside

CNN —

As President Joe Biden took on his critics in Washington, Vice President Kamala Harris this week made the case to their allies around the country.

On Tuesday in Nevada, a battleground state crucial to their reelection bid, she blasted Project 2025 – the 900-page policy agenda drafted by conservatives with ties to former President Donald Trump.

In Dallas on Wednesday, she reminded her Alpha Kappa Alpha sisters that they had been “on the front lines of the fight to realize the promise of America” for more than a century.

And in Greensboro Thursday, Harris told the crowd that 2024 is the most “existential, consequential and important election” of their lifetimes.

“We will continue to fight. And we will continue to organize. And in November, we will win,” Harris said. “We will win, because we know what’s at stake.”

Whether Biden steps aside or – as he has insisted for nearly two weeks – remains the Democratic nominee, Harris has been under increased pressure to clearly articulate the significance of this year’s election, draw distinctions between the Biden administration and Trump, and defend the ticket from Republican attacks. The vice president’s efforts to reach minority voters and other key constituencies has become critical.

Supporters say this is the work she has been doing – drawing on her lived experiences as a Black and South Asian woman as well as her professional background as a former district attorney, attorney general and California senator as she lays out the campaign and administration’s policies such as gun safety, small business and reproductive rights.

“I think there’s a strong team. I think you’ve got Biden, but you also have a really strong vice president, and I’m glad that the world