Created Equal: What do Democrats do now that Biden dropped out of the race?
President Joe Biden announced on social media platform X that he would no longer seek re-election and endorsed his VP Kamala Harris.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 22, 2024, during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.
On Sunday afternoon, President Joe Biden announced he will no longer be the Democratic Party nominee. He is the first eligible incumbent president since President Lyndon B. Johnson to cede his party’s nomination.
However, the timing is different this time around. In 1968, former President Johnson dropped during the primaries, giving Democrats a few months to find a replacement. Yet Biden has only given his party just a few weeks to find another candidate before the Democratic National Convention in August.
Though Biden quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris after dropping out of the race, the possibility for another candidate to emerge has not yet been ruled out. Currently, there are debates on selecting a replacement that properly respects the democratic process because another primary vote can’t occur.
Multiple experts joined Created Equal to discuss the sudden change in the 2024 presidential race. Joining host Stephen Henderson was Professor Dallek from George Washington University, Professor Dionne from Georgetown University, U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell and Jamal Simmons, a former communications director for Harris.
Guests
Professor Matt Dallek is a political historian at George Washington University. He said he was surprised how quickly other governors rallied behind Harris, especially as others may poll better, and may even defeat Trump if they had more time to campaign.
“I’m a little, not totally surprised, but just a little surprised at how swiftly people have rallied behind the Vice President, given that her poll numbers are not super popular, right,” Dallek said. “She’s underwater as well. And there are obviously a lot of other prominent Democrats, including the governor of [Michigan], who some Democrats, I think in an ideal world, would be better in a position to go after Donald Trump and to defeat him.”
Professor EJ Dionne works at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and is a columnist for the Washington Post. When discussing other potential candidates like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, he said it may create more division than unity in the Democratic party.
“What’s clearly happened here is the big potential players that everybody was talking about…decided that for their long term interest and also for the interest of the party…would probably do them no good [and] would create more division than excitement for an open convention.”
Debbie Dingell is a U.S. Representative for the 6th District of Michigan. She said she endorsed Harris because millions of voters voted for Biden and Harris during the primaries, and she doesn’t believe in disenfranchising their votes.
“Millions of voters nominated Joe Biden to be president and Kamala Harris as his vice president. And I don’t think we should disenfranchise us. Joe Biden [supports] Kamala Harris, hoping, I think, that all of us would follow that millions of voters voted for that ticket.”
Jamal Simmons is the former communications director for Harris. The longtime political strategist says that Harris being in the spotlight is a source of inspiration and meaningful representation for a lot of Americans.
“She is very used to the spotlight of being the first. I think that spotlight creates a lot of attention and a lot of desire to get it right for people,” Simmons said.
