Joe Biden is out of the U.S. presidential race. Now what?
CBC
There's an immediate — and overwhelming — front-runner in the race to replace Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket. But she hasn't locked it up yet.
In the wake of Biden's bombshell withdrawal Sunday from the presidential race, he gave a powerful boost to Vice-President Kamala Harris by endorsing her. But there was conspicuous silence from other top Democrats
Harris's response appeared to acknowledge it might not be a coronation.
"My intention is to earn and win this nomination," she said in a statement, saying she was honoured to have Biden's endorsement.
That said, she received numerous endorsements from congressional Democrats, including the party's Black and Hispanic caucuses and some leading progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
She is also expected to gain another formidable advantage: use of the existing Biden campaign operation, which would further complicate any rival challenge.
Harris entrenched her dominance with a show of organizational force: tens of thousands of potential volunteers participated in a video call for Black female supporters, several state parties promised their delegates will support her, and the party shattered a one-day fundraising record.
The fundraising platform, ActBlue, said Sunday evening that small-dollar donors raised more than $46.7 million in the first five hours of Harris's presidential campaign.
But other big names in the party were notably circumspect on Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and former U.S. president Barack Obama all put out statements on Sunday recognizing Biden's service to the country — but none mentioned Harris or endorsed her.
It opens up the possibility that she may have challengers at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, taking place Aug. 19-22.
"We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead," Obama said in a statement. "But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges."
Biden's decision was a historic development after a head-spinning week that included the aftermath of an assassination attempt against his Republican rival Donald Trump. And it scrambles assumptions about the campaign.
Virtually every poll shows the Republicans leading against Biden, though those same surveys say a hypothetical race involving Harris is much closer.
Republicans have also built their campaign around Biden's weakness; they will now be thrust into a messaging rewrite.
