Dr Sarah Lieberman discusses Joe Biden’s withdrawal as the Democratic candidate in the upcoming US Presidential Election.

Joe Biden has stepped down as the Democratic Candidate for the upcoming presidential election which will take place on Tuesday the 5^th November 2024. This is not a great surprise and has been on the cards for several weeks. First, he is currently 81 years old (and will turn 82 this November), which would mean that had he stood, and won a second presidential term he would have been 86 before he could retire. Second, many leading politicians, journalists, and other commentators have been calling for him to step down in the wake of a disastrous performance in June’s debate against Donald Trump in which he seemed uncertain, shaky, and frankly too old to carry out the duties required of the President of the USA. This was further confirmed at the NATO press conference in July when he introduced Ukraine’s President Zelensky onto stage as Vladimir Putin, and later the same day called his Vice President Kamala Harris by his Republican opponent’s name, Donald Trump.

While gaffes and spoonerisms can be amusing and are normally forgiven, in this fast-paced election campaign they have served to paint a picture of the standing President of the USA as unable to carry out a second term.

Alongside Biden’s rather quick slide into media fame for senility rather than a safe pair of hands, Donald Trump suffered an assassination attempt that removed a slither of ear. In a turn of events that could not be made up, a large swathe of the Republican voting American population now believes that Trump was turned by the hand of God, or that the Angel St Michael diverted the bullet.

With the hand of God, and support from all sides Republican, Donald Trump secured his party nomination for the presidential campaign at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee (look carefully and you might see some key UK figures supporting Trump). The decision of who will replace Biden in the Presidential race will be made in Chicago in August, at the Democratic National Convention. Had Biden chosen to carry on with his campaign it was suggested that his nomination would be confirmed in advance of the Convention, with a new candidate needed this is not now so clear.

Although it opens the possibility of a ‘surprise’ at the Convention, it does seem as though Vice President Kamala Harris is on a straight run to be the Democratic presidential nominee. Harris on Sunday took over the Biden-Harris campaign and its $96 Million account. As of Monday evening, no other names have been gained traction and so the question now turns to whether the USA electorate is ready to vote for a President who is both female and black. Furthermore, we can only speculate the lengths to which former President Donald Trump might go in his campaign against her. Will he be able to stifle his misogynistic and racist tendencies to conduct a clean campaign? Will “laughing Kamala” stick? We only have 100 days to find out.

Dr Sarah Lieberman is Reader in Politics and International Relations at Canterbury Christ Church University.