The Last Minute of Presidential Campaign: The Embarrassment of Biden’s 2023 State of the Union, and the Power of the Numbers
“As a historical matter, very, very few people do this,” historian Jon Meacham, who has helped in writing speeches for Biden, including his 2023 State of the Union address, told NBC News on Sunday, “and in an era where so many of us privilege power over principle, where a lot of us would rather take than give, I think it’s a moment for the country to consider that the president has given us a lesson: that our own wishes, our own immediate desires, should not always be controlling.”
Many Democrats are calling Biden’s concession patriotic and selfless, in part an attempt to draw a contrast with Trump. This would be a hard decision for any president, especially for someone who has been around as long as Biden has.
Whatever the case may be, President Biden on Sunday made the historic announcement that he’s no longer running for reelection. And he endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, instead.
All politicians want to be the top dog, but the numbers can move things — whether it’s polls or money. Both of them put a huge amount of pressure on Biden to rethink. Money had started to dry up, and he was slipping in swing states after his disastrous June 27 debate.
Biden indicated in an ABC interview that only the “Lord Almighty,” polls showing his party losing or maybe some combination of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, current House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina could get him to step aside.
Nancy Pelosi was seen as the leader of the charge in the Democratic Party. She pays very close attention to the polls and she listens to the swing-state Democrats who had seen a cratering in the numbers in their states and districts. Eventually, Biden got past denial to acceptance.
It was the worst three weeks of any presidential campaign, starting with the debate to Biden contracting Covid-19.
But with this announcement, Democrats are smiling and seem energized for the first time since before the debate. They have much-needed enthusiasm and money, but it doesn’t mean they’ll win the race. In the hours after Biden’s withdrawal, Democrats donated $46.7 million through ActBlue as of 9 p.m. ET, the largest site that processes Democratic donations. It’s the biggest single day of Democratic donations since the 2020 election.
Republicans don’t know how they are going to run against Harris, and the campaign has now been reset.
They believe that Biden was not qualified to lead the country, that he and his son are corrupt, and that Biden might not know what country he is in.
She has a lot of strengths and weaknesses. Harris is younger than Biden and can (likely) prosecute the case better than he can, though she is going to have to prove that in the court of public opinion. Biden was struggling with two groups in particular, black and younger voters, and Harris has the ability to fire up key portions of the Democratic base. She’s also seemed to find her voice during this campaign when talking about abortion rights, in particular.
What is a candidate for the next president? The challenge of running for the future of the Democratic Party: a fresh look at what the convention could tell us
Although it is not often, the Democrats get to troll Republicans and they did so after the announcement of Biden. Many of them said that the country can not have a president who would be 83 at the end of his term.
A convention that goes through multiple rounds of voting is what the Democratic party could be headed for if another person challenges Harris. Much depends on the around 4,700 convention delegates that will convene on Aug. 19 in Chicago. One expert said it would be like you had never seen before. Here is a look at what is happening now.
Many of the big names that have been mentioned as a Biden replacement have come out and endorsed Harris — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and others.
First, throw out the polls. All of us are starting from scratch. Before Sunday, polls had shown Harris polling about the same as Biden. The latest national NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, for example, had Biden up 50% to 48% over Trump, within the margin of error. Harris was also statistically tied, 50% to 49% over Trump.
She was thought of as a hypothetical candidate that day. Now that Harris is likely to be the actual nominee, Harris is going to face a whole new level of scrutiny.
When she ran for the Democratic nomination, she was not a very good candidate. She saw herself as a problemsolver rather than conveying her core values. She has been caricatured by the right as a California liberal, while also facing criticism from the left as being too tough on crime as the state’s attorney general. She’s struggled with messaging at times as vice president, including on immigration, one of the areas Biden put her in charge of early on.
Harris is going to be the next president, according to Simmons who was Harris’ communications director. “She’s a better candidate than she was, with a great position on the most important issue to the Democratic coalition and a majority of Americans who are anti-MAGA.”
She has the chance to change the electoral map. Several white, male moderates like North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Kentucky Gov.Andy Beshear and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly have been floated as potential candidates.
Shapiro, 51, is a popular pick in Democratic circles because he’s generally well-liked, has handled thorny issues competently and is from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has seen more ad money than any other state. The Blue Wall contains Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin and the Trump campaign wants to get them out. They’ve targeted Pennsylvania more than any other swing state, and, as of Sunday morning, were holding onto a narrow lead there in an average of the polls.
The popular Democrat is Beshear. He is in a Republican state, but he won praise from both sides of the aisle for his work with both parties.
Kelly, 60, is also from a swing state. He’s an astronaut married to former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in 2011 at a constituent event; he’s shown he can raise a lot of money for Democrats, and he could help, to a degree, blunt Republicans’ immigration attacks since he is from a border state and has separated himself some from Biden on border policy. He isn’t from a swing state with as many delegates as Pennsylvania or North Carolina, though.
A Conversation With Biden About His First Seven Terms in a Senate and the Next-to-Premier Vice-Republican Bankruptcy
This is all Biden has ever known. He won seven terms to the Senate from Delaware, and then was vice president. He ran for the presidency twice before winning. After a plagiarism scandal he dropped out of his 1987 campaign and was replaced by Barack Obama as his running mate.
He has always wanted to be president and has been told by plenty of people in his life that he couldn’t do a lot of things. Democrats credit him with saving democracy after he defeated Trump. But now, reality set in that the path forward was narrowing, or potentially nonexistent.
Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. If you want to get the news delivered to your inbox, you must subscribe here. Alternatively, you should listen to the Up First radio show for the news you need to start your day.
Can Psychology Help People with Emotional Affects? Positive Emotions in a Political Environment are Normal for Political Affairs
It’s been a rollercoaster for U.S. politics lately. With the election just four months away, Keeping up with the headlines can be very tiring. psychologists said it was normal for people to feel negative emotions in a political environment, even if they were against Trump. If you’re feeling intense, long-lasting symptoms of prolonged sadness, worry, hopelessness or physical tension, it could be time for an intervention. Here are some strategies to help, according to psychologists: