Biden has pulled out of the race to be US President. What happens now?

He has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the job. The President posted on X: “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”

My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024

What does this mean, and what happens now?

First of all, does the President’s endorsement mean Kamala Harris is the Democratic Party’s nominee to take on Trump?

President Biden could always have chosen to drop out of the race, and release all the pledged candidates that he has accumulated. But he cannot force them to support a candidate chosen by him — in this case, Harris.

The New York Times wrote in an explainer that while his endorsement “would count for something”, the delegates are free to make their own choices. “Loyalty to Mr Biden, which runs deep, does not automatically extend beyond him. And there could be a floor fight over who would emerge as the nominee, highlighting already festering ideological divides in the party, and potentially weakening a future Democratic candidate heading into the fall campaign,” The NYT explainer said.

So what does this mean for Harris?

Harris could be one candidate in a field of hopefuls for the nomination. But while some Democrats argue that she is the only person who can mount a challenge to Trump, others are uncomfortable with what effectively amounts to a coronation. Senior Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi, who played a key role in persuading Biden to drop out, has expressed her preference for a contest for the nomination.

At the same time, Harris, Biden’s Vice President, can lay claim to what was the President’s pitch to voters for so long. Also, she is best placed to inherit the election war chest put together by Biden. American elections are to a large extent about money, and Biden, despite some mega donors closing their purse strings, still has much more to spend than Trump. Democratic donors who had pressed Biden to stand aside, have praised his decision.

Has something like this happened before?

No. No sitting President has ever dropped out the election race so late. Harris is in a truly unique position.

What will happen now?

The Democratic National Convention, where Biden would have been formally nominated for the White House by 3,939 delegates, will begin in Chicago on August 19. However, the Democratic Party does not even have until then to make up its mind. There is a rule in Ohio under which all candidates must be certified by August 7, but Democrats are looking for workarounds.

Could Harris win against Trump?

She has her task cut out. Trump leads the polls in most of the battleground states, and he can be expected to benefit, at least to a degree from his brush with near death when a gunman shot at and injured him on July 13. It is not clear whether the Black and the trade union vote, mostly behind Biden, will transfer seamlessly to her. But she can be expected to get the support of many women voters who support her pro-choice position. Of course, she will make history if she wins, as America’s first woman President.

If not Harris, who else can it be?

Several names have been doing the rounds ever since Biden’s disastrous performance in the debate with Trump triggered the calls for him to step aside. However, some of those names, such as Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan have said they will not run, and others such as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, had thrown their weight behind Biden.

The names that remain in the mix are Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Governor Gavin Newsom of California, Governor J B Pritzker of Illinois, Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. The Democratic Party will in fact need two new faces, the nominees for President and Vice President. Once Harris, or someone else, is nominated for the top of the ticket, the nominee will pick his or her running mate.