Talk:Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign

Opposition Section: Addition of Congressman Jared Golden

I believe we should add to the Opposition Section information regarding incumbent Democratic U.S. House Representative Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd congressional district and co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for the 118th Congress. He told Axios he would "absolutely not" commit to voting for the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in November and in a written statement said that he will not be endorsing the party’s nominee for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, adding it would be his “last statement” on the matter. Golden even published an op-ed arguing former President Trump is going to win the election, that he’s “OK with that.”, and he is even willing to work with him. Smobes (talk) 01:36, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

Also, Congressman Jared Golden as a super delegate for Maine's delegation chose to abstain from voting for Kamala Harris as the Democratic National Committee’s presidential nominee during the early Democratic nomination virtual roll call. Smobes (talk) 01:50, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

References

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 15 October 2024

After where it says "The Uncommitted National Movement declined to endorse a candidate", I propose we add "Incumbent Democratic U.S. House Representative Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd congressional district and co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for the 118th Congress has declined to endorse a candidate and will not commit to voting for Harris in November. Golden published an op-ed arguing that former President Trump is going to win the election, that he’s “OK with that.”, and he is even willing to work with him." Smobes (talk) 02:47, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

References

 Not done: This section is about opposition, and Golden is only declining to make an endorsement (as noted in the sources he is in a vulnerable seat and this could effect his own reelection). This isn't the same as the uncommitted movement declining to endorse, which is explicitly a protest movement aimed at changing Harris' policy on Israel. The op-ed also argued that Trump would win against Biden, not Harris. Jamedeus (talk) 03:33, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 25 October 2024

After where it says in the Background Section, "Joe Biden's age, which at the time was 80, was being used as a "battering ram" by Republicans" we should add to the sentence, "and as a focal point of Democratic U.S. Representative Dean Phillips's challenge of Biden in the 2024 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries." Smobes (talk) 05:05, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{Edit extended-protected}} template. – Muboshgu (talk) 14:24, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Adding Dean Phillips here would be WP:UNDUE. – Muboshgu (talk) 14:24, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

I just think the sentence is misleading to other people that "Joe Biden's age, which at the time was 80, was being used as a "battering ram" by Republicans" because it is a value judgment that fails to mention that an incumbent Democratic Congressman with a national audience was also making similar claims at the time which makes it appear as a purely partisan issue. It falsely portrays a narrative that Biden's age concerns were not discussed by any incumbent Democrats holding national office back in 2023, and only Republicans at the time were talking about it. And I don't understand how it is giving undue weight to mention there was bipartisan talk about the issue of Biden's age when a Democrat who raised these concerns got over 500,000 votes and four pledged delegates as per the results of the primaries to the Democratic National Convention largely due to his rhetoric about concerns of Biden being able to finish a second term in office. Smobes (talk) 15:26, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Fair point. But, Phillips's campaign received little attention and ended long before Biden dropped out. The pressure campaign by Democrats to get him out started after the debate, which is really what made the issue a "battering ram". If others believe that Phillips should be added, then we can do so, but it requires WP:CONSENSUS. – Muboshgu (talk) 15:48, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

The part of the background section we are talking about is not referring to the issue of Biden's age being a "battering ram" by Democrats starting after the debate... Instead, the paragraph of this section we are talking about refers to long before the debate, which explicitly mentions that this was taking place back when Biden was still 80 years old. So, the time that is being referenced would have been before November 20th, 2023, when Biden turned 81. The article wrongly makes it sound to the readers that back before November 2023, only elected officials who were Republicans used these concerns about his age to mount opposition to Biden's reelection efforts as a "battering ram", but that was not true because incumbent Democratic Representative Dean Phillips was also articulating similar talking points at that time in 2023 about Biden's ability to serve a second term due to age and health concerns. Phillips frequently expressed concerns about Biden's age while running for the 2024 presidential nomination for the Democratic Party and contributed to that "battering ram" by making it a bipartisan talking point on the national stage.

I will make another post seeking consensus on adding Dean Phillips to the background section. Smobes (talk) 02:58, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

Inclusion of Congressman Dean Phillips in the Background Section

I believe in the Background Section that this part of it is misleading to people when it says, "In October 2023, Harris refused to speculate about what would happen if Biden, the incumbent president and expected Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election, were to drop out of the race. Joe Biden's age, which at the time was 80, was being used as a "battering ram" by Republicans" because it is a value judgment only to mention Republicans were part of the "battering ram." This part of the background section fails to mention that incumbent Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips, with a national audience running for President, was also making very similar claims to Republicans in October 2023 about his concerns with Biden's age to serve a second term. The way this section currently refers to concerns about Biden's age in 2023 appears to make it a purely partisan issue, but it was a bipartisan matter because a sitting member of Congress in the Democratic Party made these same kinds of statements publicly. It falsely portrays a narrative that Biden's age concerns were not discussed by any incumbent Democrats holding national office back in 2023, and only Republicans at the time were pushing this discussion about it. Phillips's bipartisan talk about the issue of Biden's age was a lonely campaign in Congress in 2023. Still, primarily due to raising these concerns, he got over 500,000 votes and four pledged delegates as per the results of the 2024 Democratic primaries to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago primarily due to his rhetoric on the campaign trail across the country about concerns of Biden's age making it difficult to be able to finish a second term in office. The hundreds of thousands of Democratic Party voters that supported Phillips later on in the primaries, I believe, shows that there was weight to his words as being part of the "battering ram" with Republicans at that time when focusing on Biden's age concerns back in October 2023.

I propose after where it says in the Background Section, "Joe Biden's age, which at the time was 80, was being used as a "battering ram" by Republicans" we should add to the sentence, "and as a focal point of Democratic U.S. Representative Dean Phillips's challenge of Biden in the 2024 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries."

This will require a consensus to add to the Background Section. I would like to hear what people's opinions are about including this in the article. Please respond if you agree or disagree with adding what I proposed. Thank you. Smobes (talk) 03:45, 28 October 2024 (UTC)