‘Get your head out of the sand’: Here’s who Democrats could consider if Biden steps down

Democrats have been shaken by their complacency over President Joe Biden’s age and his alarming performance in his first debate against Donald Trump, and many in the party are wondering what other options might exist.

The 81-year-old president and his supporters have brushed aside concerns about his age by citing his accomplishments and pointing out that Trump is only three years younger, but the weaknesses cited by Biden’s critics were clearly visible from the moment he first opened his mouth, the report said. Washington Post columnist Aaron Blake.

“The Democratic Party spent much of the 2024 campaign burying its head in the sand over Americans’ concerns about President Biden’s age and quick-thinking,” Blake wrote. “Rather than addressing the problem, its most influential voices presented it as an exaggerated media construct. »

“But the party abruptly pulled its head out of that sand Thursday night, after a meandering, sometimes incoherent and almost universally criticized performance by Biden in the first debate,” he added. “In the most pronounced cases, this has led to calls for Biden to resign, including from those loyal to him. »

READ ALSO : ‘It was horrible’: Congressional Democrats deflated after Biden debate disaster

Biden has insisted he remains in the race, but many Democrats who had been staunch supporters and apologists of the octogenarian chief executive until he entered the debate stage are suddenly seeking a new flag bearer.

“This instant reaction is extremely significant in itself,” Blake wrote. “This is the kind of conversation you avoid — and the party has worked to avoid — until you see it as absolutely necessary. Going there and letting Biden stay would only harm him further, because a group of allies would have said implicitly or explicitly that he is not up to the task.”

Blake listed 10 potential options, starting, of course, with Vice President Kamala Harris, who is about as unpopular as the president, and then moving through a series of likely contenders for 2028 whose timeline could be moved up by an election cycle.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tops most lists as the female governor of a crucial state that already enjoys national prominence, while other governors like Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Gavin Newsom of California, Colorado’s Jared Polis and Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro are all likely to do so. run for president in four years – if not sooner.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg nearly won the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries in 2020 as mayor of a midsize Midwestern city and can deftly debate Fox News hosts and Republican lawmakers, and Sens. Rafael Warnock of Georgia and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota might make sense.

Michelle Obama “is a fanciful option for Democrats,” Blake wrote, but she has expressed no interest in running for office.

“This is truly a desperate plan, and one with many obstacles,” Blake wrote. “It would almost certainly require Biden’s agreement to withdraw—he holds nearly all the pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August—and even then, the process for replacing him is cumbersome. It’s not even clear that an alternative would improve the party’s situation.”