Is Kamala Harris a liability or a secret weapon? What Biden campaign insiders really think

Is Kamala Harris a liability or Joe Biden’s secret weapon? It depends who you talk to — but the sentiments in Bidenworld trend toward the latter.

It’s unclear, then, what the campaign’s latest moves mean.

Recent polling shows that support for Mr Biden is slipping among Black voters in key swing states. Clearly, if Ms Harris is needed anywhere, it’s there: Her popularity among Black voters — especially Black women voters — is well-known. Yet she has instead been deployed repeatedly in recent weeks to South Carolina, a state that will have absolutely zero impact on the November election.

Ms Harris took two separate trips there this month alone, for a total of eight since she became vice president in January 2021.

When The Independent accompanied the vice president on one of those excursions — a visit to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to speak to a Black women’s group on the anniversary of the January 6 attack on the Capitol — the room where she spoke was packed to the rafters. More than 1,200 members were there to hear her. Before she even entered the room, they gave her a standing ovation.

After taking the stage, Ms Harris launched into what has become a standard version of her stump speech, which began with her crediting her audience for Mr Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“It is because of you that Joe Biden is President of the United States and I am the first Black woman to be Vice President of the United States. And so I’m here of course to say thank you for your work and your leadership and your vision for what is possible for our nation,” she said.

On a broad-brush level, she was correct to thank the audience of South Carolinians. It was their votes during their state’s 2020 primary that launched Mr Biden on a path to