NASHVILLE — Former Vice President Kamala Harris named who she considers the most effective U.S. presidents in history during a panel discussion at the National Urban League Conference. Her choices omitted former President Joe Biden, under whom she served as second-in-command for four years.
National Urban League President Marc Morial prompted the discussion by asking Harris to “rank the top 3 most effective American presidents in history.” Harris named Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Barack Obama.
She highlighted Roosevelt first, praising him for “investing in people during dire times.” She then grouped Kennedy and Johnson together for their linked domestic policy work.
“I credit Kennedy, of course, in terms of what he laid the groundwork for,” Harris said. “And then Johnson followed up on.”
Harris closed her selections by pointing to Obama’s work on national health coverage. She cited “what he did with the Affordable Care Act and many things.”
“If we had one issue that’s been ailing America for generations, which is a healthcare system that has failed anyone other than the rich,” Harris stated, noting that Obama confronted the problem directly.
The decision to leave Biden off her list follows earlier public friction between the two political allies. In her 2025 campaign memoir, “107 Days,” Harris wrote that Biden’s choice to run for a second term was “recklessness.”
Harris described the internal struggle she felt while serving in the White House. “I knew it would come off to him as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run. He would see it as naked ambition, perhaps as poisonous disloyalty, even if my only message was: Don’t let the other guy win,” Harris wrote.
She also noted the toll the presidency took on the chief executive. “But at 81, Joe got tired,” Harris recalled in the book. “That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.”
Biden launched a second presidential bid in 2024. He faced growing calls from inside the Democratic party to drop out after a widely criticized debate against Donald Trump.
Biden eventually stepped aside and gave his endorsement to Harris. That left her with 107 days to run a full national campaign before voters went to the polls.
During an interview on MS NOW’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” Harris said she held a “certain responsibility” to push back against Biden’s decision to seek reelection in 2024.
