President Joe Biden dropped a political bombshell by announcing that, after all, he will not seek re-election in 2024.
Biden becomes the first eligible president since Lyndon Johnson in 1968 to decline to seek re-election in this manner.
Following Biden’s poorly-received debate performance in June, calls to drop out from fellow Democrats increased over time. As his poll numbers declined, despite the president’s insistence that he would not leave the race, the calls continued, and ultimately, a number of key Democratic figures pushed Biden to quit. On July 21, he listened.
On Sunday afternoon, Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris.
Historic Decision: Joe Biden Drops Out
Biden’s withdrawal from the campaign less than four months before the election is unprecedented in modern times. Then again, since 2015, nothing about American politics has been expected. This wild shake-up of the election campaign will reverberate up and down the ballot.
This will be the first election in 56 years in which a nominated candidate did not run in the primaries. That candidate was Vice President Hubert Humphrey, nominated at the 1968 Democratic National Convention after Johnson withdrew from the race.
Fast-forward to 2024: Democrats had become convinced that not only would Biden lose, but that he would sabotage their chances at winning Congress. 2024 is a very different election from 2020: As we noted in a previous article, Biden had the advantage four years ago of lacking Trump’s baggage and high negatives. The incumbent president could no longer boast that, and enthusiasm about his campaign waned.
Biden also withstood a great deal of criticism for running for re-election at age 81, when he is already the oldest president in history. Worth noting: Should Donald Trump win in November, he would be 82 at the end of his second term. Prior to Biden’s withdrawal, the average age of the two major candidates was nearly 80 years old.
Who Will Replace Joe Biden?
As Joe Biden drops out of the running, Democrats will now be tasked with finding Biden’s replacement. They may not have to look far: Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden’s right-hand woman. Harris ran for president in 2020 and then became Biden’s running mate, but if nominated to replace Biden, she would become the first woman of color as a major party’s nominee.
There is no indication at this point if the Democrats will have a semi-open process to let Harris or someone else earn the nomination. Such an event would have to be pulled together very quickly as the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago begins on August 19. Not coincidentally, this is also around the date of some states’ filing deadlines for the November general election.
Republicans Plan to Challenge
Some Republican figures, notably House Speaker Mike Johnson, have suggested that they will contest a Biden withdrawal in the courts. The speaker stated his view that Democrats angling to replace Biden on the ballot would be “unlawful” at this stage.
This does not appear to be true. The Democrats are in a difficult position, as these things are normally wrapped up many months before the conventions and elections, but Biden was not the official Democratic nominee as of his drop-out on July 21.
Not only that, but just because it’s unconventional in modern times for a nominee to get picked this way does not mean it has never happened. We could go back to 1976 for a contested GOP convention, and one in which it was not clear going in if President Gerald Ford would be his party’s nominee. In fact, he almost was not. To that end, attempting to use the courts to stop another party from nominating the ticket of their choice at their own convention would evidently be undertaken under bad faith.
However, if Democrats value their chance at winning this election, they will need to move with extreme speed to unify behind their new nominee.
Simplified Summary
President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 election on Sunday, July 21. He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. Biden's decision to leave the race was historic, as no sitting president had withdrawn from a race since 1968. His personal fortunes had declined as of late, and Kamala Harris is the likely replacement nominee. Republicans have cried foul about Biden leaving the race, but there appears to be little they can do.
