The presidential election is on November 5, 2024, and pressure is mounting on the US president to drop out of the race and allow the Democratic party to pick another standard bearer during its convention in six weeks.
Biden starting bleeding support from party members, elected officials and a portion of the media after his poor performance at a presidential debate with his main rival, former president, Donald Trump of the Republican Party.
So far, though, only a handful of lawmakers have publicly called for Biden to quit the race, but momentum is growing, and Biden’s post-debate interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos is unlikely to stem the tide.
Some Democrats fear Biden’s weakness at the top of the ticket could cost the party control of the House and Senate.
Biden said that he speaks with Democratic leaders in Congress “regularly,” including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
According to CNN reports, the ongoing fallout from Joe Biden’s debate performance has already moved talk in many top Democratic circles to who Kamala Harris’ running mate would be.
That’s how specific a widening group of leading party officials, operatives and donors are that the president’s slow start to salvage his campaign won’t work, with several close allies skeptical that he is up to the reelection campaign he has pledged to stay in, based on CNN’s conversations with two dozen Democratic politicians and operatives.
Biden always says not to compare him to the almighty, but to the alternative. That’s exactly what a growing number of Democrats looking at Harris are doing.
For her part, the vice president and her staff have deliberately ignored most of the calls and texts coming their way, remaining insistently on message about both her support for Biden and her pride in sticking with him.
But Harris has already made some changes: Only after last week’s debate did her office update her schedule to put her with Biden for the Fourth of July picnic and fireworks. She has not attended the picnic before, instead keeping to her own Independence Day tradition of making a stop at a local fire station. And after Democratic governors rejected the White House’s initial offer to have her speak to them instead of Biden, she was also added to the meeting and closed it with a speech urging unity and sticking with the president.
That’s her keeping close to Biden — but it’s also Biden keeping her close.
Despite her efforts, Democratic politics has started to reshape around her — as has former President Donald Trump’s campaign, which has already begun attacking Harris. Several officials told CNN they have begun chiding donors who complain that they don’t think she can win, arguing that they need to stop and get on board with her. Other officials and advisers said plans are underway to convince Biden to immediately throw his support behind Harris, release his Democratic delegates and ask them to follow his choice. Former presidents and party leaders would then follow suit, they believe, in hopes of avoiding a contentious fight to lead the Democratic ticket.
A more open race, these top Democrats hope, would be for Harris’ running mate, with a focus on leading Democratic governors. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are the most discussed; the list also includes Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Tim Walz of Minnesota. But even that is fraught, as it would deny Harris the deference given to every other modern presidential nominee to pick their own running mate.
A Democratic senator offered an extended and very colorful metaphor for describing the movement to Harris, likening Biden and his vice president to a star quarterback who needs to be taken off the field and their backup.
We start talking in the huddle: ‘Do we put in the backup QB?’ The backup knows our team, the backup knows the plays, the backup has played in the NFL,” the senator said. “The crowd in the stands full of passionate fans starts chanting: ‘Put in the kid from Alabama!’ ‘Put in the QB from Wisconsin!’ All just because the backup threw an interception earlier. But we know the backup and have confidence in them.”
The senator said that’s the difference between the donors who are handwringing about Harris’ chances and many of those who are trying to focus on what the realistic options are now.
“I just want to say to all the fans: ‘Do you not get that they’ve only played college, they’ve never played a single play in the NFL? They don’t know our team or the plays?’” the senator said. “The players are like, ‘That’s nuts. Let’s see if our star quarterback is coming back.’ But if he doesn’t, the idea of our suddenly drafting someone from a school with a different playbook who hasn’t played a single game in the NFL is a huge risk.”
There are also the logistics of making a new person the Democratic nominee. Harris would be able to take over the Biden campaign fundraising and infrastructure, since she is also part of the current ticket.
It’s a straight shot and she’s ready to roll. We’ve got to be decisive, too,” said Tim Ryan, the former Ohio congressman, who said he’s been getting flooded with private agreements from former colleagues and others after saying Biden needs to step aside to make room for Harris. “It plays right into the stereotype that Democrats are weak. With one fell swoop, you can change so many different narratives.”
Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz dismissed the speculation.
“President Biden is our nominee, Vice President Harris is our running mate, and we will win this November,” he said.
Running mate options
Much of the speculative running mate conversation for Harris has centered on Cooper, the two-term governor of North Carolina, and Beshear, the younger two-term governor of Kentucky. Both, like Harris, are former state attorneys general, and both have won with Republican support. Beshear attended the Biden meeting on Wednesday in person, while Cooper attended virtually.
Cooper has a relationship with Harris that goes back years, to when they were both attorneys general. In a late 2020 interview, after Cooper won his current term and Harris was elected vice president, the governor talked about how their “really good relationship” had continued into her Senate years, when she would occasionally consult with him on Trump judicial appointees from his home state.
“She knows what it’s like to hold a state office. I think that that’s very relatable to us as governors,” Cooper said then, calling Harris “whip smart.”
“I think she’s ready to do this job,” Cooper said.
He demurred in that interview when asked if he could envision a Harris-Cooper ticket one day, focusing on his 40-year unbeaten record as the only Democrat to consistently win in North Carolina.
Beshear also knows how to win tough races. He’s won the top office twice in a much more Republican-heavy state and did it while talking up Democratic values like reproductive rights and looking after trans kids. He’s extremely popular in his state, and has caught national attention for being young — he’s 46 — and a smooth communicator who has already this year racked up invites to come speak to Democratic events in Virginia, Montana and Iowa.
