For weeks, Democrats have been walking a fine line with regard to their assessment of the office of the vice president — specifically, whether that position is of the utmost importance or virtually inconsequential.

Then-Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) was hailed as a very important pick for President Joe Biden in 2020, mainly due to concerns about his age even then. But when Biden abruptly exited the 2024 presidential race in late July — by all accounts, a move that he did not make of his own volition — they were busy scrambling to pump up Vice President Kamala Harris’ resume, and they leaned into her experience working alongside Biden and often being the “last person in the room” when the major policy decisions were made.

But within a few weeks, when they realized just how unpopular a lot of Biden’s policies were, they switched footing and attempted to put as much distance as possible between her and the administration of which she had been a vital and vocal part — at least, until it was politically damaging.

When Harris selected Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate, Democrats pivoted once again to tout him as a major addition to the party’s 2024 ticket. But then he debated his Republican opponent, Senator JD Vance (R-OH).

Before the vice presidential debate — which aired on Tuesday evening on CBS — was even over, Democrats were doing their best to spin what they must have believed was a near-disaster of a performance from their candidate. Once again, the role of the vice president was relegated to negligible at best as Democrats on X attempted to dismiss Walz’s obvious lack of command — over any major policy — from the debate stage.

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“I actually think most Americans fundamentally understand that the VP is not the President,” former Missouri Senator and MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill posted.

I actually think most Americans fundamentally understand that the VP is not the President.

— Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) October 2, 2024

“Here’s the thing,” David Axelrod, a former Barack Obama advisor, added. “VPs don’t make policy. Presidents do. Who talks about the Pence years?!?”

Here's the thing:
VPs don't make policy. Presidents do.
Who talks about the Pence years?!?

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 2, 2024

But what Axelrod left out is the fact that because of the almost evenly-divided Senate, some of President Joe Biden’s policies never would have seen the light of day without the direct actions of his sitting vice president, Kamala Harris.

Harris directly impacted the economy, for example, when she cast the deciding vote in the U.S. Senate on the wildly misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, sending the U.S. economy spiraling into skyrocketing inflation rates that shattered decades-old record highs.

The sitting VP also cast tie-breaking votes on 32 other measures — the most of any vice president in history.