--- title: Joe Biden Wasn't Ready for Kamala Harris's Attack on Race description: Joe Biden said he wasn't ready for Kamala Harris to go after his civil rights record during the Democratic primary debate. canonical: https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-05T13:51:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:42.885Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Biden Says He Wasn't Ready for Kamala Harris to 'Come After' Him on Civil Rights og:description: Joe Biden said he wasn't ready for Kamala Harris to go after his civil rights record during the Democratic primary debate. og:url: https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a46c8371399bc1d/6989ff5ab21a9c879e501fad/joe-biden-kamala-harris.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Joe Biden Attends Rainbow PUSH Coalition Annual International Convention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Biden Says He Wasn't Ready for Kamala Harris to 'Come After' Him on Civil Rights twitter:description: Joe Biden said he wasn't ready for Kamala Harris to go after his civil rights record during the Democratic primary debate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a46c8371399bc1d/6989ff5ab21a9c879e501fad/joe-biden-kamala-harris.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden Says He Wasn't Ready for Kamala Harris to 'Come After' Him on Civil Rights > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Kamala Harris Confronts Joe Biden on Race [Watch (HLS stream): Kamala Harris Confronts Joe Biden on Race](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SFuOJAa5.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2019-06-28. Kamala Harris confronts Joe Biden on race_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 5, 2019 1:51 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to guests at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Annual International Convention on June 28, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to guests at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Annual International Convention on June 28, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jul 5, 2019 1:51 PM UTC Former Vice President Joe Biden defended his civil rights record and said he wasn’t ready for California Sen. Kamala Harris to go after him on his past stance on busing during the first round of 2020 Democratic primary debates. “I was prepared for them to come after me,” Biden [told CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/05/politics/joe-biden-cnn-interview/index.html) in a new interview. “But I wasn’t prepared for the person coming at me the way she came at me.” He added: “She knew Beau, she knows me,” referring to his late son Beau Biden. During the debate in June, [Harris confronted Biden](https://time.com/5616709/joe-biden-busing-democratic-debate/) in one of the most dramatic moments of the debates. She criticized his position on busing and school desegregation in the 1970s, referring to her own experience being bused to a different school. In 1975, the then-senator backed an anti-busing measure from Sen. Jesse Helms, an opponent of civil rights. He later worked to stop the Justice Department from using busing to desegregate schools, and worked with segregationist senators like James Eastland and Herman Talmadge. > [](https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1147086230233997312) > [](https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1147087511954571264) The clash between Harris and Biden became a debate flashpoint, sending her soaring in post-debate polls, while he has seen a slump. Recent polls found that support for Harris shot up to 14.7%, up from 7%, putting her in between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Biden still leads the polls, but support has gone down to 27.2% from 32.1%, according to poll averages [compiled by RealClear Politics](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020%5Fdemocratic%5Fpresidential%5Fnomination-6730.html#polls). Speaking with CNN, Biden said his stance on busing was taken “out of context” and defended his previous position. He said “busing did not work” in school desegregation efforts and the African American community in his state of Delaware “did not support” busing. Biden said he did not push those points as much during the debate to avoid “getting in that scrum.” “Do you think the American public looked at that debate, take me out of it, and thought, boy, I really liked the way that’s being conducted?” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/"},"headline":"Joe Biden Says He Wasn't Ready for Kamala Harris to 'Come After' Him on Civil Rights","datePublished":"2019-07-05T13:51:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:52:42.885Z","description":"Joe Biden said he wasn't ready for Kamala Harris to go after his civil rights record during the Democratic primary debate.","url":"https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/","keywords":["2020 Election","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a46c8371399bc1d/6989ff5ab21a9c879e501fad/joe-biden-kamala-harris.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a46c8371399bc1d/6989ff5ab21a9c879e501fad/joe-biden-kamala-harris.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Joe Biden Attends Rainbow PUSH Coalition Annual International Convention","caption":"Joe Biden Attends Rainbow PUSH Coalition Annual International Convention","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/","name":"Joe Biden Says He Wasn't Ready for Kamala Harris to 'Come After' Him on Civil Rights"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kamala Harris Confronts Joe Biden on Race","description":"Kamala Harris confronts Joe Biden on race","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SFuOJAa5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-06-28T02:35:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SFuOJAa5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/","duration":"PT1M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5620970/joe-biden-kamala-harris-desegregaton-busing-debates/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```