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Pete Buttigieg Denies Rivalry with Vice President Kamala Harris: 'No Room' for 'Parlor Games'

PETE BUTTIGIEG AND KAMALA HARRIS
PETE BUTTIGIEG AND KAMALA HARRIS

Ian Forsyth/Getty; Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is dismissing rumors of a rivalry with his onetime primary opponent Vice President Kamala Harris.

"There's no room to get caught up in the parlor games, and I'm proud to be part of the Biden-Harris team," Buttigieg said on Meet the Press Sunday.

Buttigieg, 39, was recently named in a lengthy, anonymously sourced CNN report about the vice president's alleged "rocky relationship" with President Joe Biden and her sliding political standing within his administration.

"She and I are part of a team that is disciplined and doesn't focus on what's obsessing the commentators," Buttigieg also told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd.

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The CNN report — which Harris, 59, firmly countered last week by touting her work as vice president — positioned Buttigieg and Harris as potential opponents hoping to be the next Democratic nominee for president in 2024 or 2028.

Biden, who turned 79 on Saturday, has said he intends to run again in 2024 when he'll be 82. Harris said Thursday she and the president have "absolutely not" talked about any other 2024 plans.

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Buttigieg also insisted on Sunday that talk of emerging rivalries and shifting rankings in a hypothetical future primary matchup wasn't happening among high-profile members of Biden's Cabinet.

"We're too busy with a job to do — she [Harris] as a leader in this administration, with her leadership role, and I, and the president, and everybody else in the Cabinet and across the administration, are laser focused on getting the job done," he said.