Biden’s blockbuster move a week ago upended the 2024 race
As Sunday marks 100 days until Election Day 2024, it also marks one week since President Biden’s announcement that he is suspending his re-election campaign, reshaping the political landscape dramatically.
The embattled president made this decision amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party following a disastrous performance in last month’s first presidential debate with former President Trump.
Biden’s immediate endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris ignited a wave of support from Democratic governors, senators, House members, and other party leaders. Within 36 hours, Harris secured the backing of a majority of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention, effectively locking up the party’s nomination.
On Friday, former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama added their endorsements, completing the lineup of major party leaders supporting Harris.
Trump greets Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, says World War III could happen if Harris wins
Harris’s campaign has also seen a significant financial boost, announcing a staggering $129 million in fundraising following Biden’s announcement. “It’s go-time for both sides,” remarked longtime Republican consultant David Kochel to Fox News.
The replacement of Biden with Harris as the Democratic standard-bearer, expected to become official during a virtual roll call of convention delegates starting on August 1, has given Harris a bump in public opinion polls. What was once a margin-of-error race between Biden and Trump had shifted to a clear edge for the former president in the weeks after their June 27 debate showdown in Atlanta. However, with Harris now at the top of the ticket, surveys indicate it is once again a margin-of-error race.
“Instead of what was shaping up to be a Trump win, America has a real, bona fide race on its hands,” commented Wayne Lesperance, veteran political scientist and president of New England College. “Game on.”
While Harris faces the monumental task of accelerating her campaign in an extremely condensed timeline, she benefits from inheriting Biden’s large campaign apparatus with its vast ground-game resources in key swing states. This advantage positions her strongly despite the challenges ahead.
With 100 days to go, the political scene is set for an intense and closely contested race, with both sides gearing up for what promises to be a fierce battle to Election Day.
Both Biden and Trump are well-known to American voters. However, David Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns who remained neutral in the 2024 Republican primary, emphasized that many Americans are not fully familiar with Harris’s record. This has set the stage for both the Trump and Harris campaigns to define her in the eyes of the electorate.
At his first campaign rally since the race was upended, Trump wasted no time in launching attacks against Harris. Speaking in North Carolina, a crucial battleground state, Trump repeatedly targeted Harris, derogatorily referring to her as “lying Kamala Harris.” He aimed to paint her as the “most incompetent and far-left vice president in American history.”
Trump accused Harris of being the driving force behind what he described as Biden’s failures, calling her a “radical left lunatic” who would “destroy our country” if elected. He further claimed that Harris is “more liberal than Bernie Sanders,” an Independent senator from Vermont and a prominent figure on the left.
Throughout his more than hour-and-a-half speech, Trump focused on issues of border security and crime, which are key topics in the 2024 election. Trump campaign spokesman and senior adviser Steven Cheung indicated that the campaign was fully prepared for Harris’s ascension, stating, “There wasn’t any surprise. We were prepared for it. We had all our assets ready. We had all our content ready. It didn’t surprise anyone.”
In response, Harris has been emphasizing her extensive law enforcement background and highlighting Trump’s numerous legal controversies, including his 34 felony convictions two months ago in the first criminal trial of a former or current president. At an event in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris outlined her experience as California’s attorney general and a courtroom prosecutor.
“As many of you know, before I was elected as vice president before I was elected as a United States senator, I was the elected attorney general of California. Before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds,” Harris said. “Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their gain. So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she emphasized, pointing to Trump’s multiple ongoing lawsuits and criminal cases.
Harris reiterated these points the next day at a rally in Milwaukee, underscoring her commitment to justice and contrasting her record with Trump’s legal troubles.
With 100 days remaining until Election Day, the rhetoric on the campaign trail is heating up, offering just a glimpse of the fierce battle that lies ahead. Both sides are gearing up for a contentious and pivotal race that will shape the future of the United States.