WP: Biden and Harris families face strained relations following presidential election

The relationship between outgoing US President Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with her husband Doug Emhoff, reportedly soured after Harris lost the presidential election.

According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the dynamic between the Bidens and the Harris-Emhoff family became "chilly" at times after the election race, with tensions rising in private, Caliber.Az reports.

The report also mentions that Jill Biden developed an aversion to Harris dating back to 2020 when Harris criticized Biden over issues related to desegregation.

However, both White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates and Harris’s spokeswoman Kirsten Allen have strongly denied any allegations of tension. Bates stated that there is no discord between the Bidens and the vice president's family, while Allen emphasized that Biden and Harris share a strong working relationship and friendship, which extends to their spouses.

The WSJ report also touches on Biden’s personal reflections about the election. Biden is said to believe that had he remained in the race rather than stepping aside for Harris, he could have secured a victory. Though he does not criticize Harris’s campaign directly, he is convinced that, just as he succeeded in defeating President Donald Trump in 2020, he could have done so again.

This sentiment was echoed by The Washington Post, which noted that Biden and some of his advisers still feel he should not have dropped out of the presidential race. Biden was initially the Democratic frontrunner, but after a less-than-successful debate performance against Trump, Harris entered the race about 100 days before the election. In the final weeks of the campaign, polling showed that Harris and Trump were in a close race with no significant lead for either candidate.

Despite Harris’s efforts, the election outcome was decisive. On November 5, 2024, Trump triumphed with over 77 million votes and 312 electoral votes, while Harris garnered 75 million votes and 226 electoral votes. In the wake of the defeat, Harris urged her supporters to stay optimistic and motivated, saying, "Now is not the time to put your hands down. It's time to roll up our sleeves."

In late November, David Plouffe, a senior advisor to Harris, revealed that internal Democratic polls indicated that Harris never outpaced her opponent in key swing states, where she ultimately lost to Biden.

By Tamilla Hasanova