Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday distanced herself from President Joe Biden‘s controversial remark that appeared to label supporters of Donald Trump as “garbage.”

“I strongly disagree with any criticism of individuals based mostly on who they vote for,” Harris instructed reporters earlier than the Democratic presidential nominee flew to Raleigh, North Carolina, for marketing campaign occasions.

“You heard my speech final evening. I imagine the work that I do is about representing all of the folks, whether or not they assist me or not,” Harris mentioned. “I will probably be a president for all People.”

Harris additionally mentioned that Biden had “clarified” the remark he made Tuesday.

However she underscored that her marketing campaign is trying to find any votes that she will be able to get — and is anxious to not lose any — with lower than per week earlier than Election Day.

“I’ll be spending full time speaking to folks regardless of who they voted final time,” Harris mentioned.

The vice chairman mentioned she had spoken with Biden on Tuesday evening, however that they didn’t talk about what he had mentioned earlier within the evening.

Biden had been on a video name Tuesday about outreach to Latino voters, when the dialog turned to the a number of racist jokes comic Tony Hinchcliffe made at a rally for the GOP nominee and former president in New York Metropolis on Sunday.

“Simply the opposite day, a speaker at his rally referred to as Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of rubbish,’ ” Biden mentioned on the decision.

“They’re good, respectable, honorable folks,” Biden mentioned, referring to Puerto Ricans. “The one rubbish I see floating out there may be his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it is un-American. It’s very opposite to every thing we have accomplished.”

That remark shortly drew criticism from Republicans backing Trump. Inside hours, the White Home took the uncommon step of releasing a revised transcript of Biden’s remarks. On this model, it appeared that Biden was saying the “rubbish” was Hinchcliffe’s demonization of Latinos, not Trump supporters.

Biden himself then took the much more uncommon step of creating his personal assertion, insisting he didn’t imply to name Trump supporters “rubbish.”

“Earlier right now, I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Sq. Backyard rally as rubbish — which is the one phrase I can consider to explain it,” Biden mentioned in a tweet on X late Tuesday evening.

“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That is all I meant to say. The feedback at that rally do not replicate who we’re as a nation.”

Regardless of the cleanup efforts, Biden’s remark — mangled or in any other case — threw a monkey wrench into the Harris marketing campaign’s plan to focus on her pledge to manipulate for all People, no matter get together.

As an alternative, Harris allies showing on Wednesday’s morning information reveals now needed to reply questions on what Biden mentioned.

Biden’s remark additionally difficult the Harris marketing campaign’s plan to take advantage of the backlash to Hinchcliffe’s joke about Puerto Rico.

Pennsylvania, which is a maybe essentially the most prized swing state within the 2024 election, has almost 500,000 Puerto Rican residents, who signify the biggest share of Latino voters within the state.

Hinchcliffe’s remark threatened to alienate a minimum of some Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

Within the 2016 election, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania by fewer than 45,000 votes or lower than 1% of the vote.

In 2020, Biden beat Trump within the state by fewer than 81,000 votes, a margin of lower than 1.2%.