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‘She’ll Be Lucky If She Comes Within 5 Points’: GOP Treads Carefully With Kamala After Biden Drops Out

Republicans are confident they can beat Kamala Harris. But first, they want to make sure Democrats pick her as the nominee.

Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff AP-22318713090450
Vice President Kamala Harris answers a question at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Minutes after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the presidential race on Sunday, Republicans were shifting their electoral strategy and treading carefully to entice Democrats into making what they believe is a mistake.

In the immediate hours after Biden dropped out, the first principle for Republicans seemed to be “do no harm.” Sources said Republicans don’t want to scare Democrats off from nominating Kamala Harris as their nominee, and they don’t want to take the focus off the current disarray in the Democratic Party.

With that in mind, the safest GOP response to Biden’s withdrawal from the race seemed to be reinforcing the existing strategy. Donald Trump and Republicans had an extensive game plan to beat Biden, and a big part of that plan was highlighting how Democrats were pushing Biden — a candidate who most voters believed was too old to run for president — to call into question the judgment of Democrats.