Joe Biden pushed out: desperate Democrats in switch for the ages
The Democrats must now decide whether to hold a short open contest between all candidates to decide their nominee or effectively anoint Kamala Harris as their candidate.
US Vice-President Kamala Harris is set to lock down the Democratic presidential nomination within days after her embattled boss Joe Biden succumbed to relentless pressure to bow out of the election and save his party’s crumbling campaign to keep the White House.
In a move that has up-ended Donald Trump’s re-election strategy and intensified an already acrimonious campaign, Mr Biden announced he would abandon his bid on Sunday night (Monday AEST), throwing his weight behind his deputy, Ms Harris.
Top Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton and all the party’s state organising committees, immediately moved to endorse Ms Harris, 59, increasing her chances of formally succeeding Mr Biden as the party’s nominee at the nominating convention in Chicago next month.
“With this selfless and patriotic act, President Biden is doing what he has done throughout his life of service: putting the American people and our country above everything else,” Ms Harris said in a statement.
“Over the past year, I have travelled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead.
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”
Confirmation of Mr Biden’s departure triggered an avalanche of financial support for Ms Harris’s hours-old presidential campaign, which raised more than $US50m in what was the biggest one-day fundraising effort since 2020.
Mr Biden, 81, announced his decision to quit the race in a bombshell tweet, saying: “While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus entirely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
The President had repeatedly insisted he intended to contest the election, but his campaign was effectively doomed by his disastrous debate performance last month. He lost the confidence of key Democrats, and his position became untenable late last week when media leaks revealed that the party’s most important leaders – Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries – believed Mr Biden would lose the election and both houses of congress.
Mr Obama, and the two top congressional Democrat leaders, Mr Jeffries and Senator Schumer, declined to endorse Ms Harris in their lengthy statements of praise for their outgoing leader, suggesting some lingering disquiet about her ability to take on a resurgent Mr Trump.
“Joe Biden has been one of America’s most consequential presidents as well as a dear friend and partner to me,” Mr Obama said. “Today, we’ve also been reminded again that he is a patriot of the highest order. I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
The Democrats must decide whether to hold a short open contest between all candidates to decide their nominee or effectively anoint Ms Harris as their candidate. Even if they do hold an open contest, there may be no serious candidates to challenge Ms Harris given that three prominent frontrunners – Californian Governor Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg – endorsed Ms Harris’s candidacy hours after Mr Biden withdrew. Another prominent potential candidate, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, has previously said she would not challenge Ms Harris.
Multiple state Democratic committees – from New Hampshire to North Carolina – pledged within hours to direct their delegates to vote for Ms Harris in Chicago next month.
An angry Mr Trump accused the Democratic Party of “fraud” in a series of social media posts after the announcement.
The GOP scrambled to recast its election strategy, which had been based in large part on Mr Biden’s frailty and decline, attacks that proliferated in the wake of the debate. “Now we have to start all over again,” Mr Trump said. “Shouldn’t the Republican Party be reimbursed for fraud in that everybody around Joe, including his doctors and the Fake News Media, knew he was not capable of running for, or being, President?”
Mr Trump claimed that Ms Harris would be easier to beat than Mr Biden, but an average of 11 national polls tracked by the Washington Post gave the former president a 1.5 percentage point lead over Ms Harris compared with 1.9 percentage points against Mr Biden, both within the margin of error.
Top Republicans immediately tried to tie Ms Harris to the President’s perceived policy failures on immigration and inflation, dredging up her more extreme policy positions during her tenures as California Attorney-General and a senator.
“Joe Biden has been the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way,” said Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance.
“She owns all of these failures, and she lied for nearly four years about Biden’s mental capacity – saddling the nation with a President who can’t do the job”.
Ms Harris, who will have access to all campaign funds raised by Mr Biden, said she was ready to try to unite the country and challenge the former president. “We have 107 days until election day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win,” she said.
The rules committee of the Democratic National Convention will meet on Thursday (AEST) to set the date and manner by which the party will choose its presidential nominee.
If Ms Harris wins the nomination, she is likely to choose a vice-presidential candidate who could help her win votes in the crucial midwestern battleground states. The likely shortlist could include Mr Shapiro, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota.
Harris, daughter of an Indian-born mother and a Jamaican-American father, owes her remarkable ascent to Mr Biden, who picked her as his vice-presidential candidate after she dropped out of the 2020 Democratic primary contest without winning a single delegate.
Tributes poured in from world leaders and Democrats for a President who maintained that he had among the best legislative records of any US president ever, often pointing to his infrastructure, climate change and gun safety laws, and was the best candidate to beat Mr Trump.
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton both thanked Mr Biden for his “service and leadership” in public statements. “The Australia-US Alliance has never been stronger,” the Prime Minister said in a statement.
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