US President badly battered What would happen if Biden dropped out of the election campaign?

More and more supporters are turning their backs on Joe Biden. According to experts, the chances of him not running again in November are increasing. But what would happen afterwards? The most important questions and answers.

Keystone-SDA

20.07.2024, 06:50

20.07.2024, 07:07

SDA

The pressure on US President Joe Biden to withdraw from the race for the presidency has increased in recent days. Concerns about his age and doubts about his mental fitness are immense, even among his closest confidants.

According to media reports, the Democrat is thinking about withdrawing. In recent days, he is also said to have discussed the issue with his family.

But what would happen if Biden actually did not run again? blue News answers the most important questions about a possible departure.

Biden has already won his parties' internal primaries and secured the necessary delegate votes for the nomination convention, which will take place from August 19 to 22 in Chicago, Illinois. The 81-year-old was actually supposed to be officially chosen as the presidential candidate there.

Should Biden actually drop out shortly beforehand, the delegates in Chicago would no longer be bound by the outcome of the primary in their state, but would be free to make their own decision.

However, the Democrats are unlikely to be interested in starting an open competition between several replacement candidates so close to the election and turning the party convention into the venue for a voting drama. It is more likely that they would try to rally the party behind a new leader in advance.

Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, is seen as the natural successor to Biden. Meanwhile, there are indications that Biden could put Harris forward as his presidential candidate for the November election if he withdraws. The 59-year-old has long been seen as a pale figure in office and has struggled with poor poll ratings. However, in view of Biden's hanging game, she has recently gained in popularity.

Harris is the first woman and the first black woman to take the oath as US Vice President. Her father once immigrated from Jamaica to study economics. Her mother, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist, came from India.

The Democrats would need good reasons to simply ignore Harris. In addition, she is nationally known through her role, she has already passed all the checks for the White House and she could probably access the campaign apparatus and presumably also donations collected by Biden, as she is already part of his re-election campaign as vice-chair.

However, if Harris were to move up, she would still need a running mate at her side until the party convention.

Alongside Harris, the names Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer have been mentioned most frequently of late.

Newsom (56) is governor of the powerful state of California. He has made a name for himself nationally and has worked intensively on his political profile, most recently with high-profile trips abroad.

Whitmer (52) is the governor of Michigan and has long been regarded as an up-and-coming force in the party. Before the 2020 election, Biden had considered her as his running mate. According to US media, both are said to have made it clear internally that they are not available for the second tier as possible running mates for Harris.

If Biden were to drop out of the race after his official nomination, the ball would be in the party leadership's court. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has several hundred members - with representatives from all states. It would therefore not be a very small committee that would have to make the decision. Nevertheless, according to experts, it could cause offense if the party's nominee were to be decided in such a meeting alone. To prevent this, it would theoretically also be possible for a separate party conference to be convened out of turn - if this were at all feasible in terms of time and logistics.

With material from SDA