If you listen to the media right now, the narrative is that Democrats are thrilled that Joe Biden has officially dropped out of the presidential election. According to reports, Democrats are suddenly “excited” about the race and energized. ActBlue claims that Sunday was “the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle” for their platform, as “grassroots supporters have raised $46.7 million” to prop up the ruins of the Biden-Harris campaign.
Even Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), who saved Biden's candidacy in 2020, promptly endorsed Kamala Harris.
Despite the apparent coalescing behind Kamala, there’s no guarantee that she’ll just be handed the nomination without some kind of process. Now that the primaries are over, it seems like the most likely outcome is that there will be an open convention in Chicago next month with no presumptive nominee.
Perhaps.
It’s been clear for some time that several Democrats have been positioning themselves to jump into the race if Joe Biden dropped out—most notably California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Yet, he surprisingly endorsed Kamala Harris rather than challenge her. “With our democracy at stake and our future on the line, no one is better to prosecute the case against Donald Trump's dark vision and guide our country in a healthier direction than America’s Vice President, [Kamala Harris],” he said in a post on X/Twitter.
Others in the Democratic Party have endorsed her as well, even Democrats like Gretchen Whitmer, who was widely touted as a possible alternative to Biden if he dropped out. This is rather stunning when you consider that she largely polls worse than Joe Biden against Donald Trump.
Wasn't forcing Joe Biden out about trying to win the presidential election.
That's what we're being told to believe, but the more I look at this situation, the effort to dump Joe Biden is more about down-ballot races than holding onto the White House.
Earlier this month, Adam Schiff told donors during a private meeting that he thought that if Biden is the party's nominee, "we may very, very well lose the Senate and lose our chance to take back the House.”
The rush of candidates seeking to replace Biden on the top of the ticket hasn't materialized yet, despite Harris's weakness. Does this mean that Harris will get it? It's hard to say; as of right now, no Democrat has jumped in to challenge her.
In an interesting twist, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez indicated in an Instagram Live rant on Thursday evening that Democrats aren't convinced Harris can win and wouldn't all rally behind her.
Related: Here's Proof That Kamala Harris Was in on the Cover-Up of Biden’s Cognitive Decline
“If you think there is a consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave, that they would support Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken,” she said. “I’m in these rooms. I see what they say in conversations. A lot of them are not interested in removing the president. They’re interested in removing the whole ticket.”
If what she said is true, then there is widespread belief that Harris can't win, yet, as PJ Media's Stephen Green notes, nobody seems to want to run against Trump. He wrote, "If [Trump] were truly weak, power-hungry sharks like Newsom and Whitmer would be gathering in the bloody waters to finish off Harris before trying to make a meal out of Trump."
He's right. If Trump's defeat was inevitable or even just likely, Democrats with an eye on the White House wouldn't be endorsing Kamala Harris; they'd be challenging her.
Why?
If they really think that Harris will win, that means they are effectively putting off a presidential campaign for eight years since she'd be the Democrat Party nominee by default in 2028. That means that both Gov. Newsom and Gov. Whitmer, who are term-limited out of their governorships after 2026, will have been out of office for six years before they can run again for president in 2032. That's a long time to struggle to remain relevant, especially if there's no opportunity for them to run for the U.S. Senate before then.
Endorsing Kamala Harris is likely a strategic move to help the party rally behind her with the expectation that she will most likely lose, and maybe, without Biden on the ticket, some down-ballot races can be salvaged.
