United States President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race has left Democrats grappling with unanswered questions about the way forward, with less than four months before election day.
Biden stepped aside on Sunday after weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats following a disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June. Now Democrats need to find a new nominee and re-energise their base if they want to defeat Trump, analysts say.
Biden’s decision to withdraw is not merely unusual — it is unprecedented in modern US politics.
“We’re in uncharted territory here,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor for the Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a newsletter about elections published by the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
While Vice President Kamala Harris is an early favourite to replace Biden, especially after she received the president’s endorsement, challengers seeking the Democratic nomination could emerge in the coming days.
The new nominee will be chosen at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month, when more than 4,000 party officials and activists, known as delegates, gather to vote.
There have been instances where parties have chosen their candidates in competitive conventions after the primaries. In fact, that happened frequently before the modern primary system was put in place in 1972, granting voters a greater say in the process.
But the Democrats’ current situation is different.
Having won nearly all pledged delegates, Biden is now the first presumptive nominee of a major party to quit the race after the primaries have concluded.
The president ran in the primaries without any serious challengers, and Democratic officials stressed early on that Biden – as the incumbent – will be the likely nominee. Aljezeera
