Doug Mills of the New York Times, just before 5 a.m. (ChST), reported “Biden drops out and backs Harris” in news that likely has relieved every corner of the ‘Never Trump’ universe and has reenergized a presidential race, the likes of which have never been seen.
For starters, if her nomination is victorious at the Democratic National Convention next month, Ms. Harris will be only the second woman to head up a presidential ticket in American history (Hillary Clinton unsuccessfully challenged Mr. Trump in 2016), and the first woman of color to do so. Mr. Biden is not the first president to end a reelection bid in the middle of an election year (both Democrats Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson ended their campaigns in March 0f 1952 and 1968, respectively), but his exit comes much closer to the election.
The prospective Harris-Trump race now pits a city woman from San Francisco against a city man from New York who could not be more different from each other in their careers, what they stand for, and how they would govern.
Mr. Biden, who withdrew from the race in a letter he circulated on social media, has said he would address the American people later this week. Ms. Harris released a statement accepting the challenge, saying “Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.” She also said, “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 25 agenda.”
Project 25 refers to a nearly 1,000-page proposal by the ultra-right Christian nationalist group Heritage Foundation for implementation in a second Trump administration. The proposal is so right-leaning that even Mr. Trump has tried to distance himself from it.
Endorsements have been pouring in for Harris since this morning, with attention quickly turning to whom Mr. Harris will choose to run with her after she scooped up the $96 million Biden campaign war chest, the immediate change of the campaign’s name to “Harris for President,” and the buzz of grassroots efforts throughout the country now lit up with an excitement the Democrats have been lacking this entire election season.
According to the Times, Democratic donors, officials, and other lawmakers have frequently mentioned four governors – Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, and Tim Walz of Minnesota – along with Arizona Senator Mark Kelly as potential vice presidential candidates.
Some national polls taken after the Republican National Convention but before Mr. Biden’s withdrawal showed Ms. Harris in a head-to-head against Mr. Trump within the margin of error but trailing slightly. Mr. Trump, however, continued to lead every prospective Democrat but Michelle Obama in swing states that likely will determine which candidate receives the majority of electoral college votes needed to win the presidency in January.
About 100 days remain before American voters decide who should be president, and at least one national debate is expected to happen. And unlike the June nightmare for Democrats, where the president struggled to compete against the former president, Ms. Harris is expected to be a formiddable opponent. The former prosecutor, when running for her party’s presidential nomination in 2020, was widely considered the best performer in debates and built her national profile on those stages despite the crowded field at the time.
She also has been a target for the more incendiary parts of Republican establishment that has quickened its move to an ultranationalist (translation: fascist, racist, sexist) front. Fox News commentators constantly mention her laugh, as though the way an elected official laughs has anything to do with the business of running the country. Mr. Trump has called her crazy and psychotic, also calling her laugh disgusting, and offering no evidence to back up his claims. Many of his supporters have offered a wide range of disparaging opinions against the vice president, most of which rely on misogyny, and some of which plainly are racist.
“Trump has had a remarkably successful campaign so far, and his top aides have run it effectively,” Times reporter Maggie Haberman is quoted as saying. “But Trump has also struggled running against women in the past, and Harris may get under his skin in ways other candidates haven’t, moving him off message.”
It’s a message that the Trump political empire needs to pivot and quickly, after spending so much on an effort to paint Mr. Biden as evil, aloof, and unfit to be president. The entire Trump message has been exhausted on Biden’s leadership, and now that needs to change with only about 100 days left to the election.
“Going forward we can expect a democratic convention that will be quite lively, and I anticipate additional surprises as the event unfolds intended to energize an inclusive democratic process necessary for a healthy two-party Presidential election,” former Guam delegate to the House of Representatives, Michael San Nicolas, a Democrat, said in a statement. Mr. San Nicolas is running for the seat in the August 3 election. “This is good for the country, good for democracy, and good for Guam.”
Mr. San Nicolas predicted this outcome. At the congressional debate earlier this month by KUAM, he also criticized the way political parties choose presidential candidates.
“As the only Guam candidate to verbalize how the Democratic Presidential race was an example of the trouble our Presidential selection process was in, the withdrawal of President Biden from the upcoming Presidential election further affirms my capabilities in navigating Guam through complicated national politics,” Mr. San Nicolas said.
His statement does not mention an endorsement of Ms. Harris, and neither does the statement his challenger, Ginger Cruz.
“I join Americans on Guam and throughout the nation in profound gratitude for President Biden’s lifelong service to the nation,” Ms. Cruz said this morning. “While President Biden will not seek a second term, I am certain he will finish his term in the White House with the same dignity and quiet strength that has been a hallmark of his career. While the Democratic Party will soon officially choose our nominee in Chicago, our hope must be that we remain united; united by the people who we are fighting for. Americans everywhere are bound together by common hopes and dreams. Our party — the People’s Party — is at its best when we work in service of those aspirations.”
Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero issued a statement this afternoon that also does not commit to Ms. Harris despite the trend among her colleagues throughout the nation:
“President Biden is truly an honorable President, and we are thankful for his service to the nation. We continue to appreciate his ongoing work to improve the lives of Americans in every state and territory throughout the country,” the Democratic governor said in her statement. “Though he has chosen to withdraw his name from nomination, he has placed the country ahead of any other interest. The work to which he has committed his life will not end. Democrats work to expand the circle of economic opportunity for everyone willing to work for it. We give voice to the left out and the left behind, and we work to put government on the side of the powerless, not the powerful. This is the work of our Party—and God willing, it will be the work of our future nominee.”
The Republican Party of Guam was far less magnanimous about the president in its reaction, and did not mention Ms. Harris at all:
“The news of Joe Biden ending his respective bid for President of the United States is something not seen in American Politics. For weeks, Democrats from across America have been calling for Joe Biden to go, but it appears no one in the Democrat party has any real sense of how to do this. All eyes will be on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois that start on August 19, 2024-16 days after the 2024 Guam Primary Election. Big change is coming in November.”
Saipan Senator Celina Roberto Babauta, also a Democrat, has said she will be releasing a statement today reacting to the Biden and Harris announcements.
3 Comments
Russ Mason
07/24/2024 at 12:20 PM
Does anyone realistically believe that Harris can beat Trump?
Perhaps, if she were [REDACTED BY EDITOR].
Russ Mason
07/29/2024 at 12:50 PM
Kamala Harris is an embarrassment to the Democrat party, and often says the most ludicrous things.
Why anyone would even THINK of supporting her?
Reminds me of Yogi Berra’s observation about Mental Health: “Anybody who goes to a psyciatrist should have his head examined.”
Frenchie
07/31/2024 at 11:40 PM
Kandit had previously surprised pleasantly it’s readers, by a fresh, honest investigative approach. This was a welcomed departure from the quarter of a century of delusional, revisionist narrative pushing media which made stalinist propaganda appear like a bunch of choir boys. This mind boggling article is the latest and sad confirmation of a growing disconnect of kandit’s editorial board, with reality. It embraces wildly debunked theories, and does a mediocre copy and paste job of the DNC largely inaccurate talking points. I had secretly hope for a temporary passage of
Editorial conflict. Unfortunately it appears to be a deliberate repositioning of Kandit, which we will try to comprehend at a later date.