Joe Biden has finally stepped down and chosen his vice president, Kamala Harris, as his successor to take his place on the Democratic ticket. However, Biden’s support is not enough to guarantee that Harris will be elected as the new Democratic presidential candidate. Biden cannot force his delegates to vote for her. The more than 3,800 delegates that the president had obtained during the primary process are now free, since they only had the commitment to him. The question now is whether any of the names that have been considered these days as possible successors will come out to challenge Harris for the candidacy, or will fight to form a tandem with her.
Biden’s resignation leaves an open scenario where, for the moment, there are two possible futures. The first and easiest would be for the party to close ranks around Harris at a time when the Democrats are in crisis. This would not be out of the question after seeing the show of force that Donald Trump made during the Republican Convention. The Republican Party is more united than ever (because the former president cancels out criticism and dissidents) while the Democrats seem to be falling apart like a sugar cube.
Harris has already been on the campaign trail, and as vice president, she was already expected to be capable of assuming the presidency if necessary. In fact, before the crisis surrounding Biden’s health broke out, Harris was already being given more prominence in light of the possibility that if Biden were re-elected, he might not be able to complete his term. So it would be necessary for Harris to assume the role of president. It is also true that Harris is, for now, the most recognizable face that the Democrats have, even if she is not very charismatic.
The second option would be an open process to choose the Democratic Party candidate for November 5. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been leading the pressure for Biden to resign, is one of the voices that has shown herself in favor of this type of vote. According to a publication PoliticoOn July 10, Pelosi told other California Democrats that she believed a non-competitive process would alienate voters, while a competitive process would mobilize more people and convey the image of a more democratic process.
However, for an open process to take place, another candidate must run to challenge Harris for the ticket. This will depend on how the next few days develop, but before Biden withdrew, there was already a wide range of names that could replace him apart from the vice president. Among them are Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, California Governor Gavin Newsom, as well as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
The echo of 68
The last time Democrats had an open presidential nomination process was in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson decided to resign shortly before the election due to his unpopularity over the Vietnam War. After internal battles, Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s vice president, won the nomination, although he later lost to Republican Richard Nixon.
1968 was a year of massive student protests against the Vietnam War, the ghost of which has been revived on university campuses across the country with the sit-ins against the Gaza war. The year Johnson resigned, the Democratic Convention was also being held in Chicago. During the days of the convention, the streets of the city were marked by police violence against anti-war demonstrators.
One month to decide on a candidate
With Biden’s resignation on July 21, Democrats have just one month to find their new candidate and relaunch him. The Democratic Convention is on August 19 and the acceptance speech is on the 22nd. Even though the party sets the rules, August 22 becomes the deadline.
In addition, in recent weeks attempts have been made to advance the formalization of the nomination online to the first week of August. This is because August 7 is the deadline in Ohio to be able to present the candidacies. The rush would have led to it even being formalized at the end of July to silence the doubts about Biden when he had not yet resigned, but Pelosi, and the leader of the majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, would have rebelled against the idea.
Source: www.eldiario.es
