Joe Biden announced that he is leaving the presidential race. He posted a corresponding statement on Twitter. In his letter, Biden thanked Vice President Kamala Harris and later supported her candidacy in the upcoming presidential election.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while I intended to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country that I step down and focus on serving as President for the remainder of my term. I will share more details of my decision with the nation later this week.
Today, I believe what I have always believed: There is nothing America cannot do when we do it together. We just have to remember that we are the United States of America."
Statement under pressure
The statement was made after a weeks-long pressure campaign by Democratic leaders, organizers and sponsors. It was reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had informed Biden in several private meetings that his participation in the presidential race "threatens the Democratic Party's prospects in both houses of Congress next year." This was reported by The Washington Post, citing sources. More than 30 senators had also made the same request, the media wrote.
It is also reported that "a person close to Biden" directly told him that he should withdraw his candidacy from the election, since this is "the only way to preserve his legacy and save the country from another term of Donald Trump." In turn, Biden responded that he absolutely disagrees with this point of view and is "the best presidential candidate to defeat Trump."
At the same time, Biden insisted in media appearances that he would remain the party's nominee in November unless God Almighty intervened, he was hit by a train, or he fell ill. Biden was diagnosed with coronavirus on July 17. The politician canceled campaign events and left Washington to quarantine at a summer home in Delaware. The US presidential election will be held on November 5.
Who will replace Biden now?
Democrats face a tough time, as the candidate will have a limited time — just four months — to pick a running mate and compete against Trump and his vice presidential nominee, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. About 4,000 Democratic delegates will meet on August 19 to choose a new nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris is considered the frontrunner. California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker have also been mentioned as potential candidates.
Harris, 59, who served as Biden's vice president, has the most national visibility of any Democratic candidate and may be viewed by delegates as the safest option with Election Day just four months away.
"There are no examples of such a short election campaign in modern history"
If nominated, Kamala Harris will have to show herself as an independent politician, demonstrate her advantages over Trump, and distance herself from the Biden administration, all in an unprecedentedly short period of time, Americanist Yan Veselov told The Insider.
"I think the party breathed a sigh of relief, because until today both the White House and Biden's campaign had said that he was not going to drop out of the race. However, some Democrats were saying that it would happen over the weekend. And it did. There is some relief, hope that Harris will be a better candidate than Joe Biden. Of course, for now, her ratings are about the same as his, and in a potential race with Trump, they are also about on par. Well, on par with Biden, maybe even a little better. Here, everything will depend on the election campaign, which now needs to be carried out very quickly and the Americans will be introduced to Kamala Harris in three to three and a half months.
They know her, but they know her name, they know she's the vice president. Maybe if they showed her picture, Americans would be able to point her out correctly. But beyond that, Kamala Harris is virtually unknown because she hasn't played an active role in the administration.
She was usually thrown into failed areas like illegal immigration, where the White House was actively criticized. This also did not contribute to the growth of her rating. And now she will need to show what kind of politician she is, what she wants, how she differs from Donald Trump. And, it seems to me, she will also need to show how she differs from Joe Biden. That is, to say what, for example, she would have done differently as president, including to distance herself from the negativity associated with the Biden administration. Criticism about her health and age will no longer work against her; it will rather start working against Donald Trump. But she will still need to distance herself from the administration, show that she is an independent politician, that she has different views on some fundamental issues.
Will they vote for her? In the conditions of very strong party polarization in the USA, party affiliation is very important. That is, 40 percent of the electorate is ready to vote for almost any person who has "Democrat" or "Republican" written on their name. But there is also a certain segment of undecided voters. They will need to be very actively convinced.
There are no examples in modern history when an election campaign had to be conducted in such a short period of time. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson refused to run for a second term. He was also very unpopular in the country. But that happened in May, and there was more time."
Harris' advantage is money.
One of the big arguments in Harris’s favor is finances, as she can spend money raised by Biden’s campaign on her campaign, while other candidates likely won’t be able to use those funds, Veselov said. The president’s campaign had raised $91.6 million in cash as of the end of May, according to The Guardian.
"If there is another candidate from the Democrats, he will have big problems with how to re-register these financial resources to him. And so, since Harris was in the same harness with him as a vice-presidential candidate, she will automatically have access to this money.
Well, another reason, I think, why Biden decided not to run is the very strong opposition from Democratic Party donors. Many of them said that as long as he remains a candidate, they will not give money. We are talking about $100 million that donors decided to hold back and not give to the campaign. Nobody wants to spend money on a race that is unwinnable. Now there will be a feeling that the race is winnable, and the money will go to the election campaign."
Who if not Harris
In addition to Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker have been mentioned as potential alternatives. Many have also noted the political clout of Pennsylvania Governor George Shapiro. However, they are most likely to be considered as potential vice presidential candidates for Kamala Harris, Veselov says:
"Some of them need to be kept in mind in the context of the fact that she will now need to choose her vice-presidential candidate. I have already heard several names, mostly governors. The governor of Kentucky was elected in a fairly Republican state, meaning he knows how to appeal to a relatively conservative audience. There is Pennsylvania Governor George Shapiro. Pennsylvania is fundamentally important, a victory there can largely ensure victory in this presidential election. There is North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, who is just leaving office. He is relatively moderate, more of a Democrat from the southern states. This is also a fairly conservative state. These candidates could appeal to a more moderate, more conservative audience, which is also needed to win the election."
