When Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, the same progressive lawmakers and groups — who had just spent weeks defending the president — quickly got in line behind Democrats’ next likely nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
It’s a political strategy based on loyalty that some progressives say will pay dividends if a future President Harris is looking around in a fraught situation, wondering who she can rely on.
“Who had his back as he made his decision?” one veteran organizer on progressive campaigns said of Biden. “It was the No Labels people who were out with force,” the organizer added, referring to moderate Democrats, many of whom were the loudest voices publicly calling for Biden to withdraw.