By: Matthew Polyak

The figurative coup d’état against President Biden has worked. So what’s next for the Democrats?

In an unprecedented, but expected move, The President of the United States has announced that he will no longer be running for reelection, just weeks before the August 19th-22nd Democratic National Convention, as of July 21st at 4:00 PM.

Numerous top Democrats have pleaded with Biden to step out of the race following a disastrous June debate against Donald Trump, including Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama behind closed doors. 

That Presidential debate might have been one of the most consequential in modern political history.

The last time an incumbent did not run for reelection was in 1968 when Lyden B. Johnson decided to pass the torch. However, the difference here is that this is the first time that a President has been pressured to drop out due to mental fitness concerns.

President Biden released a statement via Twitter/X:

Just minutes following his statement, he also announced that he would fully endorse his Vice President, Kamala Harris, for the ticket:

According to FiveThirtyEight, Kamala Harris has an approval rate of around 38%. RealClearPolling shows Vice President Harris at 46.3% nationally vs. Trump, who is at 48.2%. Biden was at 44.7% nationally vs. Trump, who was at 47.7%.

This means that nationally, as of July 18th, Kamala Harris would perform better than Biden in the general election. Harris is behind Trump by 1.9%, while Biden is behind Trump by 3%.

Biden’s decision to drop out has been met with praise by many Democrats nationwide.

Kamala Harris formally accepted to become a now-presidential candidate:

However, this does not mean that Kamala Harris is the nominee.

Since this unprecedented news was released, the Democratic National Convention would most likely be an open convention. This would mean that any candidate has a shot at the ticket.

To win the Democratic nomination, said individual would need to win a majority of the delegates (number is subject to change). To be considered for voting, a candidate needs over 300 pledged delegates.

In the first vote, only pledged delegates can vote. If no one wins a majority, it will move on to a second vote, where unpledged superdelegates can vote. A delegate is a person authorized to represent a group of people in a political conference. A delegate can pledge to support a candidate but is not forced to. Superdelegates are people who have been automatically selected to vote in a convention due to the various positions they hold or have held.

There are many possible choices for Democrats.

On top of Kamala Harris, we could see Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (who ran for President in 2020), Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, and possibly more.

Former Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer will most likely not run. Clinton has officially endorsed Kamala Harris while Newsom said he would support Harris if she would be on the ticket earlier this month. Nothing has been said on Whitmer’s behalf regarding Harris yet, but she has mentioned that she would like to focus on her role as Michigan governor.

Also, many are suggesting that former 2016 and 2020 Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders might run too, but that is unclear for now.

All of this to the side, why should Biden remain President? If he acknowledges he isn’t competent enough to run for reelection, what makes him so confident that he can remain President until January 2025? This is a dangerous time and America’s enemies have to be licking their chops, but I digress.

Even though this is causing some panic through the Democratic establishment, Republicans should not get overconfident. 

Republicans were hoping for Biden to remain, and now that he’s gone, they have to adjust their campaign strategy. The election isn’t over anymore. That mistake was made in 2020 and should not be made again. Other than that, the election still looks fairly positive for Republicans.

As the endorsements pile in, it seems like Vice President Harris has the highest chance of being nominated.

Gear up, folks. The race for the White House is taking another interesting turn.

More information regarding the Democratic National Convention can be found here.

Sources:

• dailywire.com
• abcnews.com
• ballotpedia.org
• projects.fivethirtyeight.com
• axios.com
• nbcnews.com
• cnn.com
• apnews.com
• reuters.com
• kcra.com
• brookings.edu
• sacbee.com
• bbc.com
• realclearpolling.com
• usnews.com