Harris set to join Biden on Chicago convention stage Monday

Biden passes torch to Harris as the party's candidate in the Nov. 5 presidential election

WASHINGTON:

Vice President Kamala Harris is likely to join President Joe Biden on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday as he passes the torch to her as the party's candidate in the Nov. 5 presidential election, sources said on Saturday.

Biden, who stepped aside from running for re-election a month ago under pressure from fellow Democrats, will give a prime-time address to the convention on Monday night to make the case for electing Harris and defeating former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate.

Two sources familiar with internal deliberations said the campaign has been discussing having Biden and Harris appear on stage together on Monday night and that it was likely to happen. There also have been talks about her appearing before Biden speaks at the big event.

Harris will be coming off a bus tour of western Pennsylvania on Sunday. She will be in Chicago for much of the crucial convention week. She will make a side trip to Milwaukee on Tuesday for a campaign event, returning to Chicago to hear her husband, Doug Emhoff, address the convention that night.

Biden, 81, reluctantly abandoned his re-election bid after Democrats raised questions about his mental fitness after a poor debate performance against Trump on June 27.

The president told reporters on Friday night that he would spend the weekend fine-tuning his convention speech. His message for the convention?

"Win," he said with a smile.

Biden had lost ground to Trump in some polls after the debate and Harris, 59, has made the race a more competitive one in several states where the election is likely to be decided.