On July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race after receiving heavy backlash from the Democratic Party. Vice President Kamala Harris is slated to replace Biden on the ballot, hoping to defeat former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Biden wrote, “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.” Biden later endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party nominee, urging his party to unite in the race against Trump.
“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,” Biden announced in a social media post. The unprecedented announcement — which occurred less than a month before the Democratic party’s convention and just four months before the 2024 election — followed a debate against Trump on June 27 that raised questions about Biden’s capabilities as a candidate.
Biden officially dropped out of the race after being urged by both Republican and Democratic supporters to reconsider his campaign. Many believed Biden had lost the ability to speak articulately and maintain voter support in November. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats nationwide, including 37 in Congress, said Biden should step down and allow a different candidate to be nominated. Biden struggled to raise money for his campaign, with many top donors withholding funds.
Actor, director and film producer George Clooney was one of the last straws for Biden’s campaign. Clooney was a large supporter of Biden and hosted some of his largest fundraisers. However, following the debate, Clooney published an opinion piece in the New York Times saying that “one battle [Biden] cannot win is the fight against time … We are not going to win in November with this president.” Clooney’s statement summed up what many thought after watching the debate and contributed to a general loss of faith in Biden. Trump remarked on Biden’s exit on his social media platform, Truth Social, stating, “[c]rooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve — and never was. We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly.”
With Biden out of the race, the focus shifted to Harris. The 59-year-old was the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president and now has the opportunity to become the country’s first female and South Asian president. Harris addressed Biden’s decision on social media, praising Biden for his “extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country.”
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris continued, adding that she will “do everything in [her] power to unite the Democratic Party” and “defeat Donald Trump.”
She quickly received endorsements across the Democratic Party, including all living former Democratic presidents, vice presidents and first ladies, every Democratic governor and most Democratic members of Congress. Harris became the official nominee on Aug. 5, securing more than the 1,976 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. The party reported that 99 percent of delegates supported the Vice President.
On Aug. 6, Harris announced her running mate to be Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, whom moderates and progressives alike have praised. “As a governor, a coach, a teacher and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his. It’s great to have him on the team,” Harris posted on X. Walz, 60, responded that it is “the honor of a lifetime” to serve with her.
The Harris-Walz campaign has broken multiple fundraising records, raising 81 million dollars in the first 24 hours of Biden’s announcement. Younger voters have also shown increased excitement in the Harris-Walz ticket, a crucial demographic that helped hand Biden the presidency in 2020. A New York Times-Siena College poll found that 56 percent of people aged 18 to 29 said they would vote for Harris, a shift from Trump’s lead against Biden a month prior.
Additionally, most polls have shown Harris ahead of Trump, a dramatic shift from Trump’s five-point lead against Biden in early July, as seen in a CBS poll. The polling website 538, aggregating many prominent national polls, shows Harris 2.6 points ahead of Trump, with Harris ahead in the critical swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Harris has emphasized her career as a prosecutor to contrast herself to the former president, who was found guilty of fraud on 34 counts earlier this year. “I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” Harris said at a rally in Pennsylvania. “Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who scammed consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain … So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”
Harris and Walz have also heavily campaigned on the promise of restoring and protecting reproductive rights after the conservative-leaning Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. According to MSNBC, the issue is personal for Walz, whose daughter, Hope, was conceived via IVF, a medical procedure that many Republicans have recently tried to ban.
“This campaign, our campaign, is not just a fight against Donald Trump,” Harris said. “Our campaign, this campaign, is a fight for the future.”
