Who could replace Biden if he withdraws from US presidential race?
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US President Joe Biden had a politically devastating performance during the CNN presidential debate on June 27.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race for the White House is still a rather improbable scenario, but the rumour mill is pumping out myriad possibilities as to who could replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket.
This is in the wake of Mr Biden’s dreadful debate performance on June 27 against former US president Donald Trump.
Here is a look at the names being circulated.
Kamala Harris
As the US Vice-President, Ms Kamala Harris is well-positioned to be the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer, but she has a dismal approval rating.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
US Vice-President Kamala Harris seems like the obvious choice.
She has been a heartbeat away from the Oval Office since Mr Biden’s January 2021 swearing-in and would be well positioned to be the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer.
The 59-year-old – the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother – is a trailblazer.
She was the first black person and the first woman to serve as California’s attorney-general, and then was the first US senator of South Asian descent.
She is now the first woman and first black US vice-president.
During her career as a prosecutor, Ms Harris had a reputation for being tough – a trait she could use to her advantage in a campaign expected to focus on crime and immigration.
Some progressive Democrats have been critical of her strict punishment of minor offenders, saying it disproportionately affected minorities.
But Ms Harris also suffers from a dismal approval rating, which could prompt Democrats to find another solution.
Gavin Newsom
California Governor Gavin Newsom has made little secret of his US presidential ambitions.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
There is no rule that a running mate automatically replaces the presidential candidate in the case of a withdrawal. This is why California Governor Gavin Newsom’s name keeps popping up.
The 56-year-old Democrat, a former mayor of San Francisco, has been at the helm of the Golden State – the most populous in the US – for five years, and has made it a haven for abortion access.
So far, he has steadfastly supported Mr Biden and dismissed talk of replacing the US leader, saying in the wake of Mr Biden’s dreadful debate performance last week against Trump that such “conversations” are “unhelpful to our democracy”.
But Mr Newsom has also made little secret of his own presidential ambitions.
In recent months, he has increased his international travel, run multiple advertisements touting his record and invested millions of dollars in a political action committee, fuelling speculation that he will run in 2028. So why not 2024?
Gretchen Whitmer
Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer is a fierce critic of Trump, but has dismissed speculation about any presidential candidacy.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Another possible Democratic candidate is Ms Gretchen Whitmer, the 52-year-old Michigan Governor.
Her state has both a strong working-class population and major black and Arab-American communities – all key groups of voters that Mr Biden has struggled to court.
Ms Whitmer, a fierce critic of Trump, is perhaps best known for being the intended target of a kidnapping plot devised by a far-right militia group.
Michigan will be one of the crucial battleground states in the Nov 5 presidential election – a strong argument, according to her supporters, for naming Ms Whitmer as a candidate.
Ms Whitmer herself has dismissed speculation about any candidacy, saying on July 1 that she was “proud to support Joe Biden as our nominee”.
“I am behind him 100 per cent in the fight to defeat Donald Trump,” she said.
Josh Shapiro
Considered an effective speechmaker and an avowed centrist, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has qualities that could propel him to seek national office.
PHOTO: AFP
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro leads the biggest swing state in November’s race.
The 51-year-old, who was elected in November 2022 with a convincing victory over a conservative rival and took office in early 2023, previously was elected twice as the state’s attorney-general.
He condemned Catholic priests who had sexually abused thousands of children and prosecuted Purdue Pharma, the maker of the powerful opioid painkiller OxyContin.
Mr Shapiro is an effective speechmaker and an avowed centrist – qualities that could propel him to seek national office.
The rest
Other names circulating include Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, but their chances so far seem limited at best.
Senator Amy Klobuchar and US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who both ran against Mr Biden in the 2020 primaries, have also been mentioned. AFP
