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President Joe Biden on Sunday announced that he would not seek reelection and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” Biden said in a statement. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Following a disastrous debate performance last month and a series of high-profile gaffes, more and more congressional Democrats and party elders had publicly and privately urged the president to drop out.
While they praised Biden for his defeat of Donald Trump in 2020 and for all of the things he has accomplished, they also expressed grave concerns that he would be able to defeat the Republican nominee in a rematch.
In addition, poll after poll showed that Americans no longer believed that the 81-year-old was up for serving another term.
For weeks, Biden seemed reluctant to make way for another, younger candidate, but he finally yielded to the increasing pressure and endorsed Harris.
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President,” Biden stated. “And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”
However, that does not mean that his pledged delegates are now bound to vote for Harris, which begs the question whether Democrats will now rally behind her or hold some sort of mini-primary.
The answer will determine how much potential acrimony the party will have to endure in the coming weeks.
Until now, the entire process has been remarkably civil.
However, if other candidates emerge who challenge Harris, things could get a bit messier.
But for now, we will first see a few days of one Democrat after another praising Biden, not only for the decision he made Sunday, but also for what he accomplished during his term.
Biden pointed to these successes in his statement and thanked the American people.
“Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” Biden stated. “We’ve protected and preserved our democracy. And we’ve revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.”
Reading between the lines, there is some implicit criticism of Trump, who bungled the response to the coronavirus pandemic, attempted a coup, and primarily references authoritarians and dictators when talking about foreign policy.
While it may seem at first glance that switching a candidate at this stage and in this manner would be a negative for Democrats, the president’s decision also poses major challenges for Trump and the Republicans.
For years, they have made Biden (and his family) their main target… and this target has now vanished.
The three main areas of attack were Biden’s age, his border policy, and high inflation.
If Harris is the nominee, she could be saddled with some of that baggage, but to a lesser degree.
If another candidate emerges, the GOP will have to rethink its entire approach.
