CHICAGO — Despite the exuberant atmosphere of the Democratic National Convention, the tensions that have been simmering through the party since President Joe Biden abandoned his re-election bid have been on public display.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood in the front row of the party conference and waved a sign reading “We ❤️ Joe” as he took the stage, hours after she told reporters on Monday she would not apologize for her role in ousting him.
“I just wanted to win this election,” she said, adding that if Biden loyalists are unhappy, “I’m sorry, but the country is very happy.”
As Democrats gather in Chicago this week to celebrate Kamala Harris, whose candidacy is just four weeks old, they have worked to quell any disagreement over the dramatic events leading up to Biden’s abrupt exit from the race. Campaign officials are sending a public message that Democrats have rallied behind Harris and are determined to defeat Trump.
Still, divisions are brewing within the party over Biden’s withdrawal from the race, raising questions about whether Democrats can maintain a cohesive front if Biden stumbles or her poll numbers fall.
Strategists say that behind the Democratic unity lies a fervent desire to defeat Donald Trump, who the party has called the most unpleasant opponent the GOP has ever fielded.
But internal cracks are hard to miss.
Biden took a detour from prepared remarks in his convention speech to say that he was “not angry with all those people who said I should resign” — making the issue public and raising a new set of questions. If he wasn’t angry, was he offended? Did he feel betrayed?
Asked by reporters later Monday night about his mindset as he left Chicago, Biden made the telling admission that he and Pelosi have not spoken. That he has not said a word to Pelosi, a power broker he has known for half a century, is itself a sign of the lingering coldness.
Many loyal Biden supporters are bitter toward him and feel he was unfairly eliminated from the race. Even first lady Jill Biden has privately expressed her “dismay” that more Democrats didn’t rally behind her husband when he was pressured to end his campaign after a dismal debate performance in June.
A Biden adviser said political aides have been instructed to support Harris’ presidential bid in any way possible. The guidance from above is that now is not the time to lament Biden’s fate, the person said.
“The single most defining force in modern Democratic politics is the opposition to Trump,” the adviser added. “It transcends so much. He is so hostile to what we believe in that it just transcends everything.”
Former Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware, a longtime friend and former Senate chief of staff to Biden, said in an interview: “The main focus of almost everyone here [at the convention] is how we make Harris president and Tim Walz vice president. What supercharges this is the existential threat of a Trump presidency.”
Even under the best of circumstances, the Democratic Party struggles to keep from falling apart. The party is a collection of interest groups and ideological factions, so prone to infighting that the phrase “Democrats in disarray” has become a familiar cliché in Washington news coverage.
Biden’s departure set in motion a chain of events that could unleash chaos and push the party to the breaking point. At the very least, the Harris-for-Biden switch was the biggest test of party unity since President Lyndon Johnson abandoned his reelection bid amid the Vietnam War in 1968. (Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey, lost to Richard Nixon that year.)
A pin worn by some Democrats at the convention shows Pelosi as “The Godmother,” complete with puppet strings. Whether meant as a compliment or an insult, the image speaks to the “make-him-an-offer-he-can’t-refuse” tactics used to dump Biden in favor of Harris.
“I’ve spoken to 100 Biden people — House members, senators, fundraisers — who think he was totally screwed,” said one Biden fundraiser, who asked not to be named. “It was unfair, it was unwise, it was unjust. And the people who did it will not be able to judge this moment in history by their own actions.”
For Biden, loyalty runs both ways. At his downtown hotel on Monday, he surprised some of the dozens of supporters who had flown in on a charter plane from his home state of Delaware to hear his speech.
Biden “played the room like he was still running for office,” joked the Rev. Christopher Bullock, pastor of Canaan Baptist Church in New Castle.
Now it’s Harris’ job to make sure that any lingering ill will doesn’t undermine her candidacy. She’s built a triad of Biden, Harris and Barack Obama campaign staffers. Some have had rival deals over the years, and they now need to work together if they want to keep Trump out of the White House.
“Our campaign is united around Vice President Harris and Governor Walz and their agenda to protect Americans’ freedoms, strengthen economic security for the middle class, and build a stronger future together,” said James Singer, a spokesman for Harris’ campaign.
In some cases, the doubts go back years. Mike Donilon, a longtime Biden adviser, left the campaign after his boss withdrew from the race, but Harris has retained the top posts of Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Julie Chavez Rodriguez. O’Malley Dillon worked in Obama’s previous campaigns; Chavez Rodriguez worked in the Obama White House.
Pelosi said in a recent interview with the New Yorker: ‘I’ve never been more impressed with his [Biden’s] “political operation,” although she did not specify who she meant.
Another potential source of friction is Harris’ decision to bring in several former Obama campaign staffers, including David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 campaign and also worked in the White House when Biden was vice president.
Plouffe is forever linked to Obama — a reality that may not endear him to some Biden loyalists. Biden’s son Hunter wrote in his memoir that he “didn’t hang around the [Obama] I had a soft spot for the White House; I didn’t want to be in the position of walking into a barbecue on a Sunday with the president and the White House staff after reading that someone had thrown my father under the bus.” He did not specify which staff members he distrusted.
Adding former Obamas to Harris’ campaign team amounted to a “nudge” for Biden, a source said in an interview.
Politico reported earlier this month that O’Malley Dillon had spoken to Harris about adding Plouffe and others to the campaign, and said she wanted to know whether adding Plouffe and others would undermine her authority. O’Malley Dillon did not respond to a request for comment.
However, a Harris aide said in an interview Tuesday that O’Malley Dillon’s call was intended to “coordinating with the vice president on how she would continue to run the campaign” and that she did not express any concerns about potentially undermining Plouffe’s authority.
O’Malley Dillon and Plouffe “have been friends and colleagues for years. They are excited to work together,” said the aide, who asked not to be named.
For Harris, the compressed calendar could work to her advantage. There’s little time for anyone hoping to beat Trump to dwell on past enmities, some Democrats said.
“The campaign is energized and I see a team that is very motivated and pulling in the right direction,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Biden’s closest ally in Congress. “There are some of the most talented people in Democratic politics who worked for Biden and Obama and are now part of Team Harris-Walz. We only have about 80 days left, so I’m very optimistic that the campaign can maintain its unity and energy.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
