Biden says he will 'work like hell' to get Harris elected

President speaks at vice-president’s campaign launch

- ALEX WOODWARD

In his first remarks since he ended his presidential campaign, president Joe Biden spoke remotely to campaign staff and supporters as Kamala Harris launched her bid for the Democratic nomination at the campaign HQ in Delaware last night.

“I know yesterday’s news was surprising and, it was hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing,” said Mr Biden, who had announced that he was ending his re-election campaign and throwing his support behind Harris in the race against Donald Trump.

“The name is changed on top of the ticket, but the mission hasn’t changed at all,” he told supporters in Wilmington. “And by the way, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be out there to campaign with her, with Kamala. I’m going to be working like hell.”

Mr Biden, who has been isolating after being diagnosed with Covid-19 last week, promised to be “fully engaged” with Ms Harris’s campaign as he finishes out the next six months of his administration.

In her first stump speech as the likely Democratic nominee, Ms Harris hailed Mr Biden’s legacy in office, promised to unite the Democratic Party around her campaign, and took aim at her Republican rival, framing Mr Trump as a career criminal up against her history as a top law enforcement official in California.

As a former prosecutor, she “took on perpetrators of all kinds”, including “predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain,” she said.

“So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type,” she added.

Ms Harris declared her support for restoring constitutional rights to abortion care, combatting the proliferation of highpowered firearms, reviving the Voting Rights Act, and dismantling the Project 2025 framework bolstering Mr Trump’s campaign – all key elements of Mr Biden’s now-finished campaign.