If President Joe Biden succumbs to growing pressure to drop out of the 2024 race, vice president Kamala Harris may not be a shoe-in to take over.
A group of Democratic donors has pledged $2 million for a “mini primary” to ensure an open competition for the nomination, according to the Washington Post. The group led by former Paypal and Intuit CEO Bill Harris would help fund presidential debates for the leading Democratic candidates to participate in, with the hopes of drawing public attention to Biden’s replacement. Other Democrats have already started preparing for Harris to take over.
“Televised debates with such a powerful cast will grip the country and instantly catapult at least some of them into the public imagination,” Harris told the Washington Post.
While he characterized the vice president as “a very strong candidate,” the business mogul stressed the importance of a “mini primary” that would allow other candidates to get exposure.
One roadblock to replacing Biden is that the money donated to the Biden-Harris campaign cannot be directly transferred to a new campaign, so the easiest way to keep the money raised if the president dropped out of the race would be for Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket.
Harris, the Democratic donor, said he did not donate to the Biden-Harris campaign in 2024 despite doing so in 2020 due to concerns about the president’s age. It was Biden’s performance at the first presidential debate that catalyzed the effort, according to Harris.
“The voters have been there for a long time,” Harris said, noting that the average citizen is aware of Biden’s mental condition. “It’s the Democratic establishment and the Beltway community that has been so slow and reluctant to face reality.”
Harris set up a super PAC called Democrats for the Next Generation, which highlights 10 Democrats under 60 years old who have been mentioned as potential candidates to replace Biden: The vice president, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Govs. Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, J.B. Pritzker, Josh Shapiro, and Andy Beshear.
Aside from those identified by Harris’s super PAC, other prominent Democrats whose names have been floated to replace Biden include Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.
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Despite calls from many prominent Democrats to drop out of the race, Biden declared, “I am running and going to win again” at a Friday rally in Madison, Wisconsin.
“It’s not that we have to protect ourselves from chaos and drama,” Harris, the Democratic donor said. “We need drama and a little chaos. I think it can be refreshing and energizing.”
