SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

More Democrats are urging President Biden to step aside. Biden says he’s staying the course, but if he should leave the race, what’s the realistic timeline for setting up a new campaign? Political strategist Maya Rupert was campaign manager for former presidential candidate Julian Castro. She also advised Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign. Rupert is not affiliated with the Biden-Harris ticket. She’s only an observer, so we’ve called her to ask about the options for Democrats. Maya, good morning.

MAYA RUPERT: Good morning.

PFEIFFER: The clock is ticking so loudly for Democrats.

RUPERT: Yes.

PFEIFFER: Every day is precious because the election is so close.

RUPERT: Yes.

PFEIFFER: How late is too late to top the ticket with a different candidate?

RUPERT: Well, I will say this – and I feel like it’s sort of obvious but bears repeating – that as of right now, President Biden has not indicated that he is going to withdraw, so right now, we have a nominee, right? I think that if we are in a situation where he does ultimately make that decision, it really depends on who the nominee is. I think that Kamala Harris is uniquely positioned to take over as the nominee and put together a successful operation. I don’t think that that time exists for any other potential candidates, and we can talk a little bit about why.

PFEIFFER: But it does seem clear, from just voluminous reader/listener feedback, that even if the Democratic Party establishment wants Harris, not everyone in the public does. The public’s dream ticket may not include Harris. So let’s say the radical happened and someone other than Harris replaced Biden. How much time would that person realistically need to run a viable campaign?

RUPERT: So, I mean, look, if it’s not Harris, I think what we’re looking at is someone who’s not able to tap into the war chest, the resources that the Biden-Harris ticket have already raised, and so they are going to have to spend these critical weeks leading up to a convention raising money and running a national campaign to try to get name ID up, to try to get voters engaged, and that’s time that they’re not spending coming up with a win strategy – you know, selecting a running mate, right? So anyone besides Harris, I think, actually puts us behind where we need to be, and I think what’s important is that voters have the opportunity to vote for Harris, right? We voted for a ticket that included her, and in a moment that is this unprecedented, where people will already feel like, I want to make sure my voice was heard, she is the sole person who is able to say, people voted for me. We voted for the Biden-Harris ticket, and…

PFEIFFER: Although it sounds like you may be saying that her ability to access the Biden money may be the main reason to keep her.

RUPERT: I think that’s a huge reason, but I think it’s more than that. I also do think that, again, we’re going to need to bring together a coalition of people, and she is the person who is able to do that easiest because, again, voters are going to say, I had the opportunity to vote for her; this is somebody that I had in mind. She also inherits a campaign infrastructure – right? – the Biden-Harris DNC they’ve put together. They have already prepared for a robust general election, so she has an opportunity to inherit that infrastructure and to supercharge it.

I also do think that beyond that, she has strengths as a candidate in this moment, right? The case that the Supreme Court just ruled on that gave presidents this unheard of level of criminal liability – right? – that was Trump v. the United States. I don’t know a better answer to that than Kamala Harris for the people, right? I think she uniquely has an ability to talk to people right now and sort of prosecute that case against Donald Trump. That could actually take us from a weird situation that, you know, we’re potentially talking about a new nominee to actually winning forward, in what could be a really – otherwise a really challenging moment for the Democrats.

PFEIFFER: To push you a little more on alternative…

RUPERT: Yeah.

PFEIFFER: …If someone were to say, no, it should be Pritzker, it should be Shapiro, Beshear, Warnock, Whitmer, is your point a lot of people don’t even know who they are? They don’t have time to get the name recognition, let alone raise the money?

RUPERT: I think that’s exactly it. I think that there’s so much talent in the Democratic Party, and that’s the hard thing about a moment like this. We have so many incredible candidates, but not people that we’ve been looking to as national leaders – except for Kamala Harris.

PFEIFFER: By the way, if you were advising the Biden-Harris campaign, what would you recommend? You would simply, it sounds, say, stick with Kamala Harris?

RUPERT: If I were advising them, I would say this has got to be President Biden’s call. He’s doing an incredible job. He’s been an incredibly consequential president. He should make this decision, but if he makes this decision, absolutely. I think he should remind us that one of his first decisions he made was to select Vice President Harris as a running mate, and there was a reason for that.

PFEIFFER: Political strategist Maya Rupert, thank you for your time.

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