All eyes on Kamala Harris as Joe Biden withdraws

In an explosive turn of events, President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he is no longer running for re-electionleave the Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic Party’s most likely candidate to face Donald Trump.

“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden said. wrote in a statement before endorsing Harris to take over the top spot on the Democratic ticket. “My first decision as a candidate in 2020 was to choose Kamala Harris as Vice President. And it was the best decision I ever made. Today, I want to express my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year. Democrats—it’s time to come together and defeat Trump. Let’s do it together.”

Biden’s departure from the 2024 campaign ends a nearly month-long saga that began with him disastrous debate performancein which the president appeared stunned, confused and stuttering in his answers, and was overshadowed by Trump blitzkrieg of lies. Castle concerns Concerns about Biden’s mental health and electability have reached a fever pitch, thrusting Harris into the spotlight as the obvious successor.

While Biden has publicly endorsed his vice president, Harris still needs to secure the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in late August. She is already on the ticket, so it would be easy for her to take over Biden’s campaign funds, avoiding the complicated process of transferring those funds to another candidate. She is also a historical figure, Firstly the first woman, the first black person and the first South Asian American elected vice president. And Democratic heavyweights, including major fundraisers and top Biden allies like the former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Representative. Jim Clyburnis expected to quickly back Harris, leaving little chance of an open convention with a candidate vying for the nomination.

However, if there is any open primary process, Democrats have a large pool of potential candidates, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Andy Beshear, Gavin Newsom, JD Pritzker, Wes Moore, Josh Shapiro, And Roy Cooperas well as senators like Mark Kelly. Any of the people mentioned above would probably be a possibility for Vice President if Harris wins the top spot.

Biden’s departure relieves Democrats of concerns about his sanity, but Harris also brings her own challenges. The vice president has outperformed Trump in some polls, but she also suffers from low approval ratings, according to FiveThirtyEight’s latest average.

Her tenure as vice president has been marred by mixed reviews, with criticism largely focused on Harris. accused absent from the public stage, high employee turnoverand lack of results on key issues in her portfolio such as immigrant.

Throughout the campaign, however, Harris emerged as a strong voice for reproductive rightsa contentious issue for Democratic voters since the conservative-majority Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022; and she did take charge of outreach to blocs that have begun to swing toward Biden, including black voters, Latinos and young voters. She has also has recently become a fixture among the online super-popularThanks to progressive content creators who turned her awkward moments into hilarious and relatable memes.

Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic Party has been a three-decade affair. She started as a prosecutor in the Bay Area, working her way up to two terms as San Francisco’s district attorney. She then became California’s attorney general, positioning herself as a reformer while also engaging in frequent political debates. tough stance on crimesome of them came back to haunt her The 2020 Democratic primary campaign was unsuccessful.

However, Harris’s success on issues like reducing crime and protecting consumers propelled her to the U.S. Senate, where she won reputation for insightful criticism of key Trump-era witnesses, including the former president’s pick for the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh and his attorney general Bill Barr.

And although her 2020 presidential campaign sunk Before the primaries began, Biden chose Harris as his running mate, citing her formidable debate skills, record of governance, and broad appeal as a Black and South Asian American woman. Four years later, Harris may be the Democrats’ best hope of defeating Trump and his party. right wing vision for America