President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election, a decision that upends the 2024 presidential contest.
For the Democratic Party, Biden's exit injects uncertainty into an already tumultuous election cycle. With just over 100 days until Election Day, Democrats now face the urgent task of selecting a new nominee capable of rallying the party and confronting Donald Trump, who leads in most major polls.
For the Democratic Party, Biden's exit injects uncertainty into an already tumultuous election cycle. With just over 100 days until Election Day, Democrats now face the urgent task of selecting a new nominee capable of rallying the party and confronting Donald Trump, who leads in most major polls.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most consequential in
00:04American history.
00:06Now that President Joe Biden has ended his re-election bid, Democrats must choose a replacement
00:10nominee and they don't have a whole lot of time.
00:13The election is just over 100 days away and the Democratic National Convention is set
00:17to begin on August 19th in Chicago, just a couple of weeks from now.
00:21So far, no Democrat has challenged Vice President Kamala Harris for the party's nomination.
00:25She has already been endorsed by Biden and a handful of prominent Democrats, including
00:30Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and California Governor Gavin Newsom, but it remains to be
00:34seen if anyone will ultimately challenge her.
00:37The next couple of days and weeks are going to be crucial for Democrats.
00:40Let me explain who picks the nominee and how that process works.
00:44The simple answer is that a few thousand Democratic delegates who represent voters will be deciding
00:48the party's nominee.
00:49Not Joe Biden and not the DNC leadership, but the delegates who were chosen to represent
00:54their state or community at the presidential nominating convention.
00:58Delegates are usually early supporters of a candidate or party activists or political
01:02leaders.
01:03There's around 4,700 of them and more than 4,000 delegates were pledged to Biden before
01:08he dropped out.
01:09Now those delegates are free to support whomever they want.
01:12And while no Democrat has yet challenged Kamala Harris as the nominee, it could get complicated
01:18for the delegates if there are other candidates in the mix.
01:21For now, it remains unclear when the delegates will vote on a new nominee.
01:26The DNC is expected to hold a virtual roll call sometime in early August where the delegates
01:30will cast their votes on a new nominee so that they can avoid an open convention.
01:35But the DNC hasn't yet officially confirmed that a virtual roll call will take place or
01:39even when.
01:40Now there's also an effort among some Republicans to complicate taking Biden off the ballot.
01:45House Speaker Mike Johnson said on July 21st, quote, every state has its own system.
01:51And in some of these, it's not possible to simply just switch out a candidate, end quote.
01:56That suggests that Republicans are looking to mount an effort to challenge whether replacing
02:00Biden on the ticket complies with state election laws, but it remains to be seen whether there's
02:05any merit to that argument.
02:06One of the biggest questions after Biden and others endorsed Kamala Harris was who would
02:10be her running mate in a race against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
02:13Harris could be inclined to turn to someone from a swing state that the party needs to
02:17win like Arizona Senator Mark Kelly or Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
02:21And while we don't know who she's thinking of, she's expected to pick a male running
02:25mate that gives the ticket some more balance.
02:28Several names have been thrown out already, including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear,
02:32Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina
02:36Governor Roy Cooper, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore.