IT’S BEEN A hell of a month in US politics.
In the 26 days since that disastrous showing by President Joe Biden in the CNN debate against Donald Trump, we’ve seen an assassination attempt on Trump, a days-long celebration of all things MAGA at the Republican National Convention, the nomination of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate and now the historic announcement by Biden that he’s decided not to run for reelection.
The announcement yesterday evening came after weeks of Biden insisting he was not for turning. By the weekend – as the calls from elected officials for him to step down continued – the pressure had become too much to bear and the Democrat bowed to the inevitable, throwing his weight behind his Vice President Kamala Harris.
Other high-profile party figures have also backed Harris to top the ticket.
And while all the momentum is with the former Senator for California, it’s not a done deal yet.
Harris is set to go before the Democratic convention next month to seek her party’s nomination for the 5 November election.
So here’s what to look out for in the coming weeks as Harris bids to – as she put it – “earn and win” the presidential nomination.
Biden stepping aside from the race had been predicted for weeks, with that speculation reaching fever pitch in the 72 hours before yesterday’s announcement.
The news – when it came – was still a shock. Biden had kept his decision-making process incredibly tight, with many White House and campaign staff learning of the news at the same time as everyone else when it broke on X/Twitter.
It’s reported that Biden gathered his closest advisors on Saturday night to discuss his announcement, and by Sunday morning was certain he would withdraw. Harris was among the top figures briefed by the president on the move that morning, according to the BBC, and he informed his senior staff just a minute before releasing his first statement at 1.46pm local time yesterday.
Biden – who is still recovering from Covid in Delaware – has released two statements on his decision, and has not made any further comments since.
In the first, he mentions Harris and thanks her but stops short of an endorsement.
The second tweet, issued around half an hour later, includes a full endorsement of Harris. It reads:
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. 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. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
A raft of senior Democrats have come out to support Harris and she herself has vowed in a statement to “earn and win” the nomination.
“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.”
She said she would “do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump”.
The Clintons were quick to endorse Harris as the nominee, and she’s also received backing from the likes of Senator Elizabeth Warren, and high-profile congress members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Adam Schiff.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who had been tipped as a presidential contender, threw his full support behind Harris last night. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg also endorsed her overnight.
Gretchen Whitmer, the Governor of Michigan, who had also been linked with the nomination, did not explicitly endorse Harris but is reported to have joined a campaign call late yesterday. Earlier this month, in an interview with the Associated Press, she said she wouldn’t run if Biden dropped out.
Much of the commentary on the US networks last night centred on why Barack Obama hadn’t also endorsed Harris.
In his own statement Obama, after praising Biden, simply said: “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
The former president has come in for criticism from some quarters for his stance – but his team has been briefing media outlets that he feels he’d be better off keeping his own counsel for the moment and then backing whoever is named as the nominee after the convention.
Anthony Scaramucci – Donald Trump’s famously short-lived communications chief, who has since become a fierce critic of the former president – offered this analysis on the latest edition of the podcast The Rest is Politics.
“This will be somewhat controversial for people and I apologise but there’s identity politics at play in the Democratic Party. So they needed to pick an African-American woman to be on the ticket – first African-American woman, first woman vice president.
“What’s interesting is that the first African-American president is not endorsing her – and so I think there’s a little bit of a tug of war going on between identity politics and performance politics.”
Scaramucci said Obama was “tipping his cards” and didn’t think Harris could win – adding that he himself was of the opinion that Harris was “way more formidable” than many give her credit for.
The New York Times has been told by sources close to Obama that the former president “has positioned himself as an impartial elder statesman above intraparty machinations” and did not want to make “a political mistake — fueling criticism that Ms. Harris’s nomination, should it come, was a coronation rather than the best possible consensus under rushed circumstances”.
That question about legitimacy is also something Harris touched on in her “earn and win” statement and is likely to be the focus of debate in the run up to the convention in Chicago next month.
It’s still possible someone could emerge to take on Harris but very unlikely.
You can expect to hear a lot more about what could happen at the convention – taking place between 19 and 22 August – in the coming weeks.
As endorsements of Harris from senior figures continued to come in overnight the New York Times reported this morning that anyone mounting a bid “would face staggering challenges”.
“Party operatives who have called for a contested convention straight out of an Aaron Sorkin political drama cannot see that dream come to fruition unless someone else jumps into the race.”
And while it’s being reported that Republicans are mulling possible legal challenges in the coming weeks, for the moment Harris also has immediate access to the campaign war chest – as her name is already on it.
According to the Washington Post: “For weeks, Democratic lawyers and operatives — who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal party deliberations — had argued that elevating Harris to be the Democratic nominee was the easiest solution for the party.
“Rather than encouraging an array of candidates to compete in an open convention and setting off a scramble for financial support, they reasoned that anointing Harris would prevent a lot of legal headaches because her name is already on the paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission that organised the Biden campaign committee.”
Harris will be out today to host an event for young athletes on the White House South Lawn later today and is set to campaign in Milwaukee tomorrow.
We haven’t heard anything from Biden since those initial statements but he’s said he will speak to the nation about his decision “later this week”.
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