President Joe Biden announced the end of his reelection campaign in a letter addressed to the American people on Sunday, July 21.
“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,” Biden said in the letter.
There were multiple efforts from Democratic officials to persuade Biden to reconsider his run before he announced his withdrawal. These calls for withdrawal increased after Biden’s performance at the presidential debate in June; a growing number believed that Biden would not win the upcoming election.
“When you are down — and I think it’s important that President Biden and his team realize that they’re underwater in the polls, if the election was held today, he likely wouldn’t win — you need to change something,” Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., said.
According to the poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, “70 percent of Americans, including nearly half of Democrats, said they were not confident that Mr. Biden had the mental capacity to be president” and many urged the president to pass the torch. Today Biden did just that.
In a separate post, Biden endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the new nominee for the democratic party.
“Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,” Biden said in a post shared on X. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
Harris is the first Black and South Asian American to serve as vice president and now has the opportunity to become the country’s first female president. Harris has received support from several members of Congress as well as former President Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
“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. We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win,” Harris said.
Despite Biden’s endorsement for Harris, Harris does not simply become the nominee. “There’s no succession protocol for the presidential ticket in the way there is for the office. Harris will have to win a majority of the convection just like anyone else,” said CNN.
There is also the opportunity for others to join the race besides Harris; these possible candidates include “Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear; North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper; Maryland Gov. Wes Moore; California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker; Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and more” said ABC.
Candidates like Harris and others, under party rules, must meet some requirements to have their names placed into nomination to be the party’s presidential candidate. The Democratic National Convention, at which the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party will be finalized, is scheduled for Aug. 19-22.
“Biden had 3,850 pledged delegates, however those delegates can choose whomever they want now that the president is out of the race and candidates vying for the presidency need a minimum of 300 delegates’ signatures to be considered a presidential candidate among the delegates.” The Hill said.
High-profile Arizona democrats have backed Harris. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., endorsed Harris in an X post Sunday.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also expressed his support for Harris in an X post.
“As Vice President, @KamalaHarris has been crossing the country and visiting states like ours to defend the right for women to make their own health care decisions. I look forward to fighting with her to defend those rights as she works to earn the nomination,” Gallego said in the social media statement.
Like the politicians representing them, many Democratic Arizona organizers and activists are taking this announcement in stride and working to build support and momentum for Harris.
Isabel Hiserodt, president of ASU Young Democrats, said that this support from the Democratic Party is crucial in the coming months.
“Democrats really need to take advantage and build some momentum, specifically around Vice President Harris and her bid for presidency,” Hiserodt said.
Although there has been a rhetoric of voting for the lesser evils among and common disinterest in voting in this election, Hiserodt emphasized that a vote for a presidential candidate extends far beyond the candidate themselves.
“We are not just looking at one person. We are looking for hundreds of people in different departments. I do not want Donald Trump to choose who regulates environmental standards for the country. We are looking at the Supreme Court that has a conservative majority, I don’t want to see a conservative super majority for our lifetime. So definitely, I think that is something a lot of young people need to consider when deciding whether or not they are going to give their support for V.P. Harris or whoever wins the democratic nomination,” Hiserodt said.
Many prominent Democrats from across the country are calling for unity at this time, hoping to build a strong enough coalition to defeat former President Donald Trump in November.
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