Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, engaged in a delicate pas de deux since the vice president replaced the president in the race for the White House, are campaigning together for the first time on Thursday, in the wake of an economic victory.
Both will celebrate in Maryland, a state bordering the capital Washington, a “historic” drop in the price of ten drugs against diabetes, blood clots or heart problems, announced in a joint press release.
Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are scheduled to deliver speeches at 1:30 p.m.
It’s an official trip, not a party event, but it’s the first time the two have campaigned together since July 21, when the 81-year-old Democrat gave up his bid for a second term and called for a close ranks behind the 59-year-old vice president.
The reform announced Thursday will save $1.5 billion in the first year, in 2026, for affected policyholders, Americans over 65, and $6 billion for taxpayers, according to the White House.
Joe Biden could have taken sole credit for this, since the announcement stems from one of his flagship laws, called the “Inflation Reduction Act”, a colossal investment plan in the energy transition and purchasing power.
Economic program
But the 81-year-old Democrat has associated the 59-year-old candidate with it, less than three months before the election which will pit him against the Republican Donald Trump.
The vice president, who is given more space in the press release than the president, promises: “We will not stop there.”
Kamala Harris is set to unveil the broad outlines of her economic agenda on Friday, and Thursday’s announcement comes at a good time in an area where she is vulnerable: purchasing power.
Inflation is falling in the United States and growth remains robust, but that does not prevent Donald Trump from constantly accusing his opponents of having crushed households with an unbearable cost of living.
“For nearly four years, Kamala has done nothing but laugh while the American economy has sunk into crisis,” the Republican candidate said at a rally on Wednesday.
Energetic start
The billionaire is now developing another angle of attack, emphasizing the animosity that he believes exists between the two Democratic leaders.
In a post Thursday on his Truth Social platform, he accused the vice president of “stealing” the nomination and staging a “putsch” against the president.
Donald Trump also joked about the fact that Joe Biden would speak on Monday, the first evening of the Democratic nomination convention in Chicago, a very ungrateful date in terms of audience, which he described as the “valley of death”.
The president and vice president have engaged in a delicate pas de deux since Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy.
In terms of protocol, the latter always has precedence and he intends to praise his record until the end, according to him unfairly underestimated by the press.
But by dropping his candidacy, he has lost all political capital, especially given the undeniable momentum gained by the vice president, who has given new hope to the Democratic Party with her energetic start to the campaign.
Kamala Harris has managed to catch up with or even slightly overtake Donald Trump according to polls conducted in certain key states, something Joe Biden, weighed down by concerns about his age, had never managed to do.
The vice-president must chart her own course, without denying the policies implemented by the man she has supported since January 2021, some of which, on the economic level, will not fully produce their effects for several years.
Kamala Harris will probably not want to rely too much on this unpopular president, who certainly has a certain amount of sympathy among Democrats, but is incapable of warming up the rooms in the manner of former President Barack Obama, who will also speak in Chicago next week.