Unsigned senior Democratic officials are circulating a memo setting out Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee if the president steps down.
The memo states:
Ultimately, only Joe Biden has the power to withdraw and choose to avoid chaos by appointing Harris, but he listens to people and they listen to people, people you probably know. If so, and you find it compelling, you should make that case.
The authors of this memo are senior officials within the Democratic political establishment who will not take a position on this crisis. We have no professional or personal connection to Harris. We just want to beat Trump. We write this in our personal capacity because we believe we need to cut through the confusion, determine which options are realistic and which are fantasy, and advocate for the only true path forward. The stakes are too high to do anything else.
If President Biden withdraws, the Democrats’ choice is clear. We can immediately unite behind his elected successor, or we can trigger long-term chaos and an open battle for the top seat.
Notably, Kamala Harris is the only potential successor to receive a national nomination and win. As vice president, she has spent the past four years in the Oval Office. Voters reaffirmed their support for Joe Biden in the 2024 primaries because they know he will be his successor if Harris is unable to fulfill her duties. Although polling obviously has significant limitations given the difference in name recognition, she is currently winning by a wide margin in any poll of the Democratic nominee.
In an alternative timeline in which Biden declines to run for reelection, an open primary would be welcome and appropriate. This is not the world we live in. The Democratic voters who pulled the lever for Biden in the primary did not scrutinize the politics, identities, or connections of Biden’s representatives, nor did they agree in any meaningful way that the representatives would have chosen differently. At this stage of the nomination process, Kamala would be the closest we have to a democratic election if President Biden withdraws. If the nomination is entrusted not to these voters but to convention delegates, the stakes are very high.
To be fair, the memo appears to be an attempt to avoid the chaos that would come as some in the Democratic Party want Biden to withdraw. Holding an open campaign months before an election would be an unmitigated disaster.
However, these Democratic staffers would be much more credible if they put their names to the memo. If they don’t have anything to do with Biden or Harris and they think the party needs to change the nominee, then they need to own their position. Democrats skulking in the dark are making the situation worse.
Vice President Harris is the only logical choice to be the nominee if Biden steps down, but we’re not there yet, and the kind of campaigning that Harris doesn’t do may just hurt the effort to reunite this party. cause.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of Society of Professional Journalists and American Political Science Association
