Joe Biden Embraces Kamala Harris for 2024 Run

President Joe Biden has officially launched his reelection campaign, with Vice President Kamala Harris set to play a key role again in his 2024 White House bid.

On Tuesday, Biden announced his long-awaited decision to run for a second term, and Harris was alongside him in a three-minute video that included clips and pictures of the vice president more than a dozen times.

The campaign launch signals that despite feelings among some members of their party that Biden should have picked another running mate, the president has decided to include Harris in his 2024 run.

"[Harris] is very much a part of the team that won the 2020 election by a decisive margin. It is a sign the Biden campaign regards her an important asset," political consultant Jay Townsend told Newsweek.

Some Harris skeptics have questioned whether Biden should have chosen her to be his running mate again, citing low ratings and asking whether she has done enough to define herself in her historic role as the first woman, first Black person and first Asian-American to be vice president.

Biden's and Harris' popularity ratings remain low, according to FiveThirtyEight polling averages, but Harris' 40 percent approval is even lower than Biden's 42. Harris has also faced significant challenges as Biden's "border czar" and has been the target of Republican attacks over her handling of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But Democratic strategist and Gordon Group President Michael Gordon told Newsweek that criticisms of Harris' job as vice president are unlikely to deter Biden from selecting her for 2024.

"Vice Presidents are famously looked down upon, and she has gotten her share," Gordon said on Monday, before Biden's reelection campaign was officially announced. "But she will absolutely be his running mate next year."

In her own statement, Harris called the next presidential election "a pivotal moment in our history" and urged Americans to "come together" as they did in the 2020 election to "continue to make progress."

"Joe and I look forward to finishing the job, winning this battle for the soul of the nation, and serving the American people for four more years in the White House," she said.

Those with doubts about Harris getting a second term have included members of her own party. Earlier this year, a reported rift between the vice president and one of the nation's top Democrats, Senator Elizabeth Warren, spilled into public view after Warren was asked on a Boston radio show whether Biden should keep Harris on the ticket.

"I really want to defer to what makes Biden comfortable on his team," Warren answered in January. "I've known Kamala for a long time. I like Kamala. I knew her back when she was attorney general and I was still teaching, and we worked on the housing crisis together. So we go way back. But they have to be a team, and my sense is they are. I don't mean that by suggesting there are any problems. I think they are [a team]."

Warren clarified her remarks shortly afterward, saying she fully supported the ticket. Multiple media outlets reported that she made two calls to the vice president to apologize, but Harris did not return them. It wasn't until March, when the two appeared at a bipartisan dinner, that tensions were soothed. Warren told a local radio program that she and Harris were "all good."

Amid all the scrutiny the vice president has faced over the past two years, those in Harris world have hailed her role as the administration's leading voice on abortion rights and her success in campaigning for a string of Democratic candidates in last November's midterms.

"Vice President Harris campaigned for about two dozen Democratic candidates in races for House and Senate seats, key governorships and even the mayoralty of Los Angeles," Paul Quirk, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, previously told Newsweek. "She was an effective campaigner, attracting favorable media coverage of her rallies and other events with those candidates."

Democratic pollster Carly Cooperman said Harris is likely to bring those same campaign skills to Biden's reelection effort, "campaigning hard" for the president and acting as a "strong surrogate" for him. This will be especially important if Biden's age takes center stage leading up to the 2024 election.

Biden, 80, became the oldest person to assume the presidency when he was inaugurated in 2021. If he wins reelection, he will be 82 when he begins his second term.

"The Biden campaign understands that it is mutually beneficial for them to show a sturdy alliance," Cooperman said. "Biden knows that there are questions around his age as he runs for reelection, and he needs to demonstrate his full confidence in her as a partner and running mate as he enters his reelection campaign."