President Joe Biden predicted the Democrats will keep Vice President Kamala Harris as a major party player despite her blowout election loss while thanking campaign donors on Sunday.
“You’re not going anywhere, kid. We aren’t letting you,” Biden said to Harris during his remarks at the Democratic National Committee holiday reception.
The pair were joined by their spouses at the reception, where they sought to stoke the egos of key donors — encouraging them not to give up hope following the election washout — while piecing together the remains of Biden’s sundowning presidency.
Republicans clinched Election Day across the board, gaining the majority in the House and Senate on top of Donald Trump’s White House victory.
The sweeping loss has led to a reckoning within the party as Democrats look to where they went wrong and what — or who — needs to change to appeal to the American people.
“We all get knocked down. My dad would say when you get knocked down, you just got to get up. The measure of a person or a party is how fast they get back up,” Biden told donors at the holiday event.
Donors from both parties spent a mind-blowing $4.7 billion during the 2024 election cycle — with a majority going to Harris’ campaign during her speedrun to the Democratic nominee in the final months of the race.
Democrats, bolstered by their allied super PACs and other partisan groups, raised $2.9 billion, including $700 million over just 700 Democrat-organized events, Harris said.
“You rallied, you opened your homes, you reached out to your friends and your family,” Harris said Sunday.
“You put your personal capital — and by that I mean your relationships — at stake to talk with people because you care so deeply, and you connected with people and took the time to remind them of what is at stake and what was at stake.”
While Biden acknowledged the lasting burn many Democrats still feel following Trump’s victory, he said that they should nonetheless be proud of what they were able to accomplish.
“We could never have gotten as much done as we did without you,” Biden said.
“You not only contributed to the campaign, but you did something, I think, even more important. You were willing to lend your names, your reputation, your character to the effort.”
With Post wires.
