Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are heading to Charlotte, North Carolina, as rumors swirl about a burgeoning rivalry between them to be President Joe Biden’s successor in the Democratic Party.
The pair are scheduled to visit Charlotte on Dec. 2 to build support for Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, Harris’s office announced Monday.
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The vice president will “discuss how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will upgrade our nation’s infrastructure and create good-paying union jobs in North Carolina. She will be accompanied by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Congresswoman Alma Adams,” the announcement said.
Over the past several weeks, news outlets have reported a rift between the president and the vice president, and some White House staffers are reportedly openly favoring Buttigieg to become the next leader of the party. Both ran unsuccessful campaigns for president in the 2020 cycle before rallying behind Biden.
“Nobody in the West Wing shuts that down,” one person told Politico in a report published last week. “It’s very open.”
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Business Insider reported in October that Buttigieg was being encouraged to run in 2024 if Biden decided to step down, with Harris’s camp allegedly saying that such a move would lead to a “difficult, messy” primary.
Buttigieg told Politico that despite the rumors, he works “extremely well with the vice president’s team” and that he is “proud to be part of the Biden-Harris team and this administration.”
