If Biden runs, as incumbent, he has the upper hand. But if he chooses not to, that doesn’t mean the Democrats will have to die.
A major campaign between Harris and Buttigieg could pit two key Democratic constituencies against each other: African-Americans, especially African-American women, and LGBTQ voters. The impact of that fight will be even worse if it begins in 2023 and extends into the second half of Biden’s current term.
Fortunately, this is a problem that can be easily solved without any politician having to give up anything for long. Instead, Harris and Buttigieg could agree that, if Biden doesn’t run for re-election, they will run for office together in 2024, with Harris as the candidate for president and Buttigieg for vice president. This could end any feud that exists between them now, while giving the Democrats a very strong ticket into what 2024 seems to be a natural continuation to Biden’s first term. .
A Harris-Buttigieg ticket will feature two dynamic politicians who represent the breadth and diversity of the Democratic Party, as well as the realities of the whole country, while not being too far off and alienating. Key voters that Biden won in 2020.
This ticket will balance geographically: Harris is unmistakably Californian while Buttigieg is from Indiana, and has a deep understanding of the Midwest.
Not all sides of the Democratic coalition were happy with this ticket. The party’s left has long viewed Buttigieg as overly moderate and wary of Harris due to her work as the San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general. These concerns are legitimate, but at a time when they have served four years in the Biden administration, what Harris did as a DA nearly 20 years earlier or as attorney general a decade ago would seem less relevant. Instead, the two will be seen as national leaders whose popularity will be more tied to the Biden administration than to anything they’ve done before.
By taking second place in the ticket, Buttigieg will put a pause on his own presidential aspirations, but he is too young to still have plenty of opportunities to run for president. One way to see this is that if Harris and Buttigieg were elected in 2024 and re-elected in 2028, Buttigieg would still be only 50 years old if he chose to run in 2032.
Harris-Buttigieg could turn out to be a dream ticket for the Democratic Party while at the same time avoiding a potentially damaging move both within the administration and in the possible Democratic primary. However, a lot has to happen between now and then to make it happen. In addition to getting support from both those directly involved, it is also important to avoid the appearance of a precautionary agreement being worked on.
This is something to which the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is particularly sensitive. The way to do this is to eliminate any speculation of a deal while also strengthening Harris and making it clear to Buttigieg that the administration will not abandon the vice president in the face of media criticism.
When Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running mate, he pointed out that she was the future of the Democratic Party. It is natural that other politicians who see themselves as the future can contest that. However, no matter how much she is seen now, Harris will be a strong lead to Biden success. The best way to secure victory for the party may not be in an attempt to nominate another flawed candidate, but to land a balanced ticket against two rising stars of the Democratic Party.
