Vice President Kamala Harris is stepping into the spotlight while President Biden is on a summer beach vacation, embracing what critics say is her status as the de facto incumbent because of her boss’ advanced age.
Speaking to a supportive crowd in Orlando, Florida, she rejected Gov. Ron DeSantis’ invite to discuss new school curricula that say some slaves used skills learned in captivity for their “personal benefit” later in life. Ms. Harris leaned directly into a debate over Black history that for more than a week has dogged Mr. DeSantis’ run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“Right here in Florida, they plan to teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” Ms. Harris said. “I’m here in Florida, and I will tell you there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery.”
Ms. Harris will step into the head-of-state role while Mr. Biden enjoys bike rides and other beach activities in Delaware. She is sitting down Wednesday with Mongolia’s prime minister, who is looking abroad to jump-start the economic fortunes of his country tucked between Russia and China.
Ms. Harris will pivot to domestic politics Thursday with a trip to champion advancement in broadband access in Wisconsin — a key prize in the Electoral College — and meet with political supporters in Milwaukee.
Her nonstop schedule coincides with Democratic angst about Mr. Biden’s age. At 80, he is already the oldest sitting U.S. president and would be 82 at a second inauguration.
And yet, like Mr. Biden, the vice president suffers underwater approval ratings. Roughly 40% of Americans approve of Ms. Harris compared to 51% who disapprove, according to a polling average from FiveThirtyEight.
Ms. Harris struggled to make headway on a long to-do list from Mr. Biden early in their term, including the migration crisis and an overhaul of election laws, though she found a comfortable topic in fighting for abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
“In states across our nation, extremists passed laws that criminalize doctors and take away the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body,” Ms. Harris said. “We are all clear: One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.”
A Monmouth University poll in mid-July said Mr. Harris’ approval rating improved slightly, to 40% from 36% in March, though 52% still disapprove of her performance.
Her busy week is “all about exposure and seasoning,” said Ross Baker, a politics professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “Her profile and issues will get a boost as the 2024 campaign evolves. This tends to produce a mixed blessing, however. More exposure means less pressure on Biden to make appearances but also sets up a contrast between a more animated running mate and a less energetic campaigner at the head of the ticket.”
Keeping the vice president in the spotlight could also be an insurance policy.
“If called to step in, Harris will be a more accomplished campaigner and a more plausible and credible president should Biden be sidelined by illness or worse,” Mr. Baker said.
Some GOP rivals see Ms. Harris as a useful foe while they try to animate the Republican primary electorate.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, says that Mr. Biden is unlikely to survive a second term so a vote for the Democratic ticket is a vote for “President Harris.”
“Kamala Harris is one of the most incompetent elected officials in the country. Her failures in foreign policy and managing the border are too numerous to mention — to say nothing of the word salad that defines her unscripted remarks,” Mrs. Haley said in an opinion piece for Fox News.
Mr. DeSantis, who is Mr. Trump’s main primary challenger, is going toe-to-toe with Ms. Harris after she visited Jacksonville last month to blast the state’s new Black history lessons.
“In Florida, we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues. And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice,” Mr. DeSantis wrote Monday in a letter inviting Ms. Harris to Tallahassee. “So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards.”
Mr. DeSantis has defended the standards as an academic truth that should be taught. He says some in the GOP are echoing White House talking points.
In rejecting the invitation, Ms. Harris harkened back to her original criticism that Florida is trying to “replace history with lies.” She also boasted of the administration’s record promoting Black Americans, which includes Ms. Harris becoming the first person of color to serve as vice president.
“Since coming into office, President Joe Biden and I — very proud to report this — have appointed more Black women to be federal judges than any administration in history,” she said. “Including the first Black woman to ever sit on the highest court in our land, Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson.”
