Jill Biden criticized husband’s choice of Kamala Harris as running mate, book says

The first lady, Jill Biden, complained about her husband’s choice of Kamala Harris as running mate and now vice-president, according to a new book, asking: “There are millions of people in the United States. Why … do we have to choose the one who attacked Joe?”

The quote is contained in This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future, by the New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, which is due to be published on 3 May.

Excerpts have already been reported. Jill Biden’s reported remark was relayed by Politico on Tuesday.

Harris made her mark in the Democratic primary – and bruised Biden – at a debate in Miami in June 2019, criticising his opposition to bussing, a way of racially integrating public schools, as a young senator in the 1970s.

Biden was reportedly hurt by the insinuation he had been racist but still picked the California senator as his running mate and ultimately the first woman of colour to be vice-president.