After Biden's withdrawal Democrats must answer 3 urgent questions - Trump also faces one of them
Joe Biden is withdrawing from the presidential election campaign. Now the Democrats are under pressure - and have to answer three urgent questions.
22.07.2024, 14:23
22.07.2024, 14:28
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- Joe Biden has announced his withdrawal from the US Democratic presidential race after growing pressure from within his own ranks.
- The Democrats now face important questions.
- One of them also concerns Donald Trump.
Following President Joe Biden's decision not to run, the US presidential race finds itself in a historically unprecedented situation.
Three and a half months before the election, it is not yet clear which presidential candidate the Democratic Party will run with - even though there is a lot to be said for Vice President Kamala Harris, who is supported by Biden. But the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump must now also reorient himself.
blue News provides you with an overview of the pressing questions that the Democrats are now facing - and that Donald Trump is also dealing with.
How do the Democrats choose their candidate?
The fact that Harris has received the backing of Biden makes her the clear favorite for the presidential candidacy. However, this does not mean that she already has the nomination in the bag.
The candidate is appointed by the party conference delegates. The Democratic Party convention takes place from August 19 to 22 in Chicago. The delegates' vote is actually based on the results of the primaries, which Biden won hands down. With his withdrawal, however, the approximately 3,900 delegates appointed on the basis of the primaries are now completely free in their decision.
It is still unclear whether the vote on the candidate will take place at the party convention. Even before Biden's withdrawal, there were plans at party headquarters to allow delegates to vote virtually beforehand.
The reason given for this was the concern that in Ohio, an important state for the election, there could be a deadline of August 7 for nominating presidential candidates before the party convention. However, the legal situation in Ohio regarding this deadline is not entirely clear. Some party critics saw the plans for the virtual vote as an attempt to force Biden through as the candidate.
After his withdrawal, the party may want to use the virtual vote option to avoid a month-long debate on the candidate before the party convention and to quickly focus forces on the election campaign against Trump.
However, if the vote does not take place until the party convention and Harris is challenged by strong rivals, the convention could be chaotic and full of conflict. This is because an absolute majority of delegates is needed for the nomination. This means that a competitive vote could drag on for several rounds.
How likely is competition among the Democrats?
Harris received support from important voices in the party in the first few hours after Biden announced her withdrawal. Her candidacy was supported by former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former presidential candidate and Secretary of State John Kerry, among others.
Above all, however, the governors of California and Pennsylvania, Gavin Newsom and Josh Shapiro, as well as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg also backed the 59-year-old - they themselves had been seen as possible replacement candidates for Biden in recent weeks. With their statements of support for Harris, the three have now signaled that they do not want to dispute her candidacy.
However, other Democrats who had been touted as possible replacements for Biden did not initially comment on Harris - such as the popular governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. A competitive vote for the candidacy is therefore still a possibility.
What does Biden's withdrawal mean for Trump?
The right-wing populist, who was chosen as the presidential candidate at the Republican Party conference last week, must also recalibrate his election campaign. The often erratic Biden has provided Trump with plenty of opportunities with his lapses - and the debate about the 81-year-old president's mental state since his disastrous performance in the TV duel was a gift for Trump.
Harris could become a more unpleasant rival for Trump. Although the polls before Biden's withdrawal showed that she did not perform significantly better than Biden in comparison with Trump, this mood could now change. The 78-year-old Trump would be up against a rival who is a generation younger than he is - so his own advanced age may now become more of a focus in the election campaign.
If Harris is nominated, Trump will do everything in his power to make her partly responsible for what he sees as the terrible failings of the Biden administration. Trump adviser Jason Miller already assigned Harris responsibility for "the destruction of our economy and the collapse of our borders" last week.
