Well, you already heard the news: President Joe Biden will be riding off into the sunset after his first term concludes. On Sunday, the president announced that he would be dropping out of the race amid widespread calls from prominent Democrats. Shortly after, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, which raised more speculation about who will take up the mantle.
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Vice President Harris issued a statement saying she is “honored to have the President’s endorsement” and affirmed that her “intention is to earn and win this nomination.”
“Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” she added.
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The vice president thanked Biden for his decades of service and said his “remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history.” She called his decision to back out of the race a “selfless and patriotic act” and she recalled first getting to know Biden through his late son, Beau, who was an attorney general with Harris.
“We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win,” Harris said.
At this point, I am predicting that Vice President Kamala Harris will become the new Democratic nominee.
It was recently revealed that Bill and Hillary Clinton are endorsing Harris as well, according to journalist Yashar Ali. “We are honored to join the President in endorsing Vice President Harris and will do whatever we can to support her,” the couple said.
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However, I do not believe these endorsements are the only reason why Harris will be the one to take up the mantle. There were already indications weeks before Biden decided to bow out that the vice president would be the Democrats’ chosen one.
As Biden made his intentions public, reports suggested that Democrats were already rallying behind Harris as the candidate.
Many Democrats appeared to view Harris as Biden’s natural successor if he eventually gave in to pressure to drop out of the race. “She’s campaigning vigorously under the mantle, and she’s the natural successor. It’s going to be important in the scenario that the president isn’t the nominee that we rally around her immediately,” said a Democratic House member on condition of anonymity.
Further fueling speculation about a potential Harris campaign are internal polls circulated among Democrats showing that she might fare better against former President Donald Trump. In fact, Biden has reportedly been inquiring as to whether Harris could possibly defeat the Republican candidate.
There will surely be plenty of Democrats who throw their hats into the ring to become the party’s nominee. There were several names that were being floated in the weeks leading up to Biden’s announcement. Some of these included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and several others, though Whitmer has now indicated she does not intend to run.
Of the pool of possible candidates, Newsom seems to be the one most likely to pose a challenge to Harris’ chances of becoming the nominee. Earlier, I wrote a piece about why I think he won’t vie for the nomination. But if I’m wrong, it still won’t matter, which brings me to my first point.
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There is no way the Democrats will choose a white man over Harris, a black (sorta) woman.
The whole reason Harris is vice president at the moment is because of her race and sex. Her performance so far as vice president shows that there was little more than her identity that motivated Team Biden to select her in the first place.
Currently, the Democratic Party is locked into its brand of identity politics to the point that they cannot extricate themselves from it even if it means losing to the Orange Man What Is Bad™. Selecting a white male in place of Harris will not go over well with the “woke” faction of the party, which wields an absurd level of influence.
Moreover, Harris gives the Democratic Party and their close friends and allies in the activist media to do something they have missed since the days of Obama: Call everyone who criticizes their candidate racist and sexist. Remember that?
While Obama was on the campaign trail, and later in the White House, a person couldn’t so much as suggest that their Black Messiah may have done something wrong without the media painting them as the second coming of Bull Connor. With Harris, they have two avenues of attack: race and gender. They will have a field day with this. In fact, they are probably already crafting their talking points as you read this.
Lastly, Democrats know their chances of defeating Trump are slim to none – whether their candidate is Harris, Newsom, or anyone else. The former president had already been steadily pulling ahead of Biden in the polls – especially after the presidential debate. The strength and determination Trump showed after getting shot in the ear undoubtedly contributed to his post-shooting polling bump.
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At this point, the race is his to lose, and the Democrats know it. It may seem counterintuitive, but Harris is such a bad candidate that it might make sense for her to be the sacrificial lamb to lose to Trump in November, given that none of the other candidates stand much of a chance of winning. If Harris loses to Trump, then it means Democrats likely won’t have to worry as much about her possibly winning the nomination in 2028, when they might actually have a decent chance of winning with the right candidate.
Of course, Democrats could go in an entirely different direction. Nevertheless, they are certainly in for some trying times over the next few months.