Sen. Chuck Schumer & Rep. Hakeem Jeffries endorsed VP Kamala Harris

In the hours and days following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 election, there have been some consistent narratives about who did what and who got put on the Biden family’s sh-tlist. Nancy Pelosi is absolutely sh-tlisted by Bidenistas, as are several other elected Democrats. In Politico’s “definitive” narrative of what happened in and around Biden’s decision, sources said that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was absolutely part of the group trying to convince Biden to end his reelection bid, but there was less bad energy around Schumer’s conversations with Biden. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries – House minority leader – was also included in some of the conversations last week, but as late as last Friday, Rep. Jeffries was publicly backing Biden as the nominee. I truly have seen nothing that would indicate that anyone should have any smoke for Jeffries.

NBC News had a follow-up on what Sen. Schumer was doing throughout the past month, especially given the sensitive personal friendship he has with Biden. Schumer’s tactic was to not publicly bad-mouth Biden or apply pressure publicly, but he also wanted senators to feel like they could share their concerns with him and with the White House. Which I think is fair, although Schumer probably could have done more to keep his Democratic caucus buttoned up, instead of leaking all of their internal party drama to the nearest Axios reporter. Per NBC, “Schumer wanted Democrats to present as a united front and handle their woes as a family discussion.” Which is how every Democrat should have handled it. NBC also says that Schumer traveled up to Delaware last week and he and President Biden had a one-on-one conversation about everything, and Schumer told Biden to really think about things over the next week. Sources close to Schumer insist that the two men embraced at the end of the discussion. Schumer, it seems, wants to ensure that he isn’t seen as a turncoat.

Well, a day after Nancy Pelosi abruptly endorsed Kamala Harris for president, both Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries have followed suit. They waited until VP Harris had gotten the delegates she needed to be the presumptive nominee, and according to both men, VP Harris asked them to wait on the endorsement until she had more “grassroots” support:

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrats in Congress, endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Tuesday. Schumer and Jeffries, both of New York, made the announcement at a press conference, where both emphasized the excitement throughout their Democratic conferences for Harris’ candidacy. “We are brimming with excitement, enthusiasm, unity,” Schumer said to reporters.

Jeffries echoed that sentiment, adding that Harris “is ready, willing and able to lead us into the future.”

While many elected Democrats, including President Joe Biden, quickly announced their support for Harris, the Senate Majority leader and House Minority leader had said they wanted to meet with her in person first. That meeting has not yet happened, sources close to the leaders told NBC News. But both Jefferies and Schumer have spoken to Harris by phone.

“When I spoke with her Sunday, she said she wanted the opportunity to win the nomination on her own and to do so from the grassroots up, not top-down. We deeply respected that, Hakeem and I did,” Schumer said.

“Now that the process has played out from the grassroots, bottom-up, we are here today to throw our support behind Vice President Kamala Harris,” he said.

[From NBC News]

Sure. I’m glad they’ve endorsed her and I buy that VP Harris said that to Chuck Schumer on Sunday. I wonder if she had any idea that the party was going to get behind her so quickly, and I wonder what President Biden was saying to various allies behind the scenes. Within 24 hours, Harris had the endorsement of nearly every Democratic governor, several of the biggest unions, the Clintons and a slew of congressmen and senators. Anyway, I’m not feeling a lot of drama from the Biden-Harris camp on Jeffries and Schumer, so it’s all good.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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