The US elections are always an absolutely wild ride, with twists that would make the best television shows wish they thought of them first.
For a few months now, the 2024 Presidential Elections appeared to be set as a race between two dinosaurs in the form of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
At age 78 and 81 respectively, many had concerns about their ages, being the two oldest Presidential candidates in American history.
Biden Faced Calls to Drop Out of Presidential Race
The age concerns fell particularly hard on President Joe Biden’s campaign, especially after accusations of senility stemming from a bad Presidential Debate performance.
A CBS News poll found that 72% of those polled felt Biden should not be running for President, with the top reason being his age.
Amongst Democrat voters, only 59% felt he had the cognitive health to serve as President for his projected second term.
His various blunders in speeches since, however minor, got much media attention and Internet jokes, presenting Biden as somewhat of a weak and senile candidate.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, received what many thought to be a major PR victory when he survived a shooting. After being hit in the ear, photos depicted Trump with a defiant fist in the air, projecting an image of strength.
To cap off a tumultuous time for the Biden campaign, the President then caught COVID-19.
All of these factors resulted in many figures in the Democrat community from representatives to supporters to call for Biden to step aside and let someone else take his place as Democrat nominee.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and former President Barack Obama also expressed their concerns behind closed doors about him continuing to run.
Despite this, Biden initially held fast and insisted on staying in the race, saying he would step aside only if he were shown proof that he could not win.
National polls initially showed Trump and Biden neck-and-neck, but Trump has pulled ahead since the debate by a small margin.
Biden Announces Withdrawal from Presidential Race, Endorses VP Harris
Despite his steadfast insistence, Joe Biden officially dropped out on 21 July (US time), posting a message onto X.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And 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.”
Many praised Biden for selflessness in stepping aside from a guaranteed Presidential nomination he clearly wanted for the sake of uniting the Democrats behind a new candidate.
This is the closest to the elections that a presidential nominee has dropped out of the race, leaving the new nominee just three months to get everything done.
So, with Biden gone, who will replace him?
Although it seems exciting for a fierce struggle for the position to occur, the choice is actually very predictable: Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Biden himself immediately threw all support behind Harris endorsing her as the Democrat nominee for the Presidential race.
Many senior Democrats also quickly rallied around Harris, including potential top contenders in Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and California’s Gavin Newsom.
VP Harris also has the advantage of already having access to the Biden campaign apparatus and group funds, enabling her to literally hit the ground running.
In roughly eight hours, the Democratic online donation processor ActBlue received US$46.7 million from grassroots supporters, already the largest fundraising day of the election cycle with hours left to go.
NBC News previously reported that Biden’s campaign suffered a major decrease in donations in the weeks since the debate.
It’s difficult to gauge exactly how well Harris will do compared to Biden in the Presidential race if nominated, with polls showing their approval ratings roughly the same.
She faces having a much shorter time to convince voters, but on the other hand, does not have many of Biden’s negatives that left the Democrat support base divided.
One thing is for sure, though. The Trump campaign’s focus on Biden’s ageing frailty is no longer in play with the 59-year-old Kamala Harris.
If anything, Trump is now the “dinosaur” in the race.
The Democratic Party will officially nominate their Presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) from 19 to 22 August.
