Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has warned that some Democrats who want President Joe Biden to quit the presidential race also want Vice President Kamala Harris off the party's ticket.
"If you think there is a consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave, that they will support Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken," Ocasio-Cortez said during an Instagram Live on Friday morning.
"I'm in these rooms, I see what they say in conversations. A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president, they are interested in removing the whole ticket," she said.
Newsweek reached out to Ocasio-Cortez's office and the Biden campaign via email for comment.
The New York congresswoman's comments come as Biden is facing mounting pressure to withdraw from the race after his debate performance last month magnified concerns about his age and ability to beat Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in November.
More than two dozen congressional Democrats have urged the president to step aside.
Biden, who is self-isolating with COVID, has repeatedly insisted he will remain in the race, but some reports suggest he could soon announce he is dropping out.
Harris has been viewed as the most likely candidate to replace Biden as the party's presidential nominee should Biden step aside. Ocasio-Cortez, who has backed Biden remaining on the ticket, said it is not a guarantee that Democrats will rally behind Harris.
"I'm here to tell you a huge amount of the donor class and a huge amount of these elites, and a huge amount of these folks in these rooms that I see that are pushing for President Biden not to be the nominee, also are not interested in seeing the vice president being the nominee," she said.
"Will they win out on that? I don't know. But I am here to tell you, do not take that for granted."
The Biden campaign has continued to deny that the president will drop his bid for reelection.
"The president is his party's nominee, having won 14 million votes during the Democratic primary," a campaign spokesperson told The Washington Post on Thursday. "He's running for reelection, and that will not change until he wins reelection."
In an interview that aired Wednesday, Biden said he would consider ending his reelection campaign if a doctor said he had "some medical condition" that would be considered a "problem." Later on Wednesday, he canceled a campaign appearance in Las Vegas after testing positive for COVID-19.
Update 7/19/24, 9:39 a.m ET: This article was updated with additional information.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, sexual ... Read more
