Less than four months before Election Day, President Joe Biden announced July 21 he was ending his campaign as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. He then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the front-runner for the Democratic Party’s fight against Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Harris confirmed her intention to run for president in a statement later Sunday afternoon, praising Biden for his “selfless and patriotic act” and thanking him for endorsing her candidacy.
"My intention is to earn and win this nomination," she wrote. "… I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda."
Biden’s decision to end his candidacy so close to a national convention is unprecedented in modern American politics. However, this dramatic shift has largely transformed the Democratic Party’s concerns about Biden’s mental acuity into unified support for Harris as their next presidential nominee.
Harris is the only Democratic candidate to publicly announce she is seeking the nomination after Biden ended his bid. According to an Associated Press Survey, Harris had gained the support of enough Democratic National Convention delegates to secure her spot as the party’s nominee by July 23.
She is expected to select a running mate within a week, and DNC delegates have announced plans to conduct a virtual vote to nominate Harris and her prospective vice president by Aug. 7.
Meanwhile, Harris’s opponent now faces the challenge of addressing a newer, younger, female candidate. The Trump campaign has already pivoted their strategy over the past week to challenge Harris’s political standing, namely by targeting her handling of immigration policy at the Southern border and attempting to discredit her identity as a Black woman.
As the country adapts to this monumental development in the lead-up to November’s election, The Chronicle interviewed members of the Duke community to gauge reactions to Biden’s historic act.
“[Biden] made an impossibly hard decision, and I think it was the right decision,” said Asher Hildebrand, director of graduate studies and professor of the practice in the Sanford School of Policy.
Hildebrand spent 15 years working in government and politics, serving as chief of staff for Rep. David Price, D-N.C., and director of policy and research for then-President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign in North Carolina.
Although Hildebrand believes Biden had not definitively lost all hope of winning the election when he dropped out, he acknowledged that the then-candidate’s path to victory was “narrowing and perhaps closing,” especially in light of recent polling showing Biden trailing Trump in every major swing state and even “at risk of falling behind in a series of states that should be solidly Democratic.”
Sophomore Ariona Miller agreed that Biden leaving the race was “the best move that he could have made for the country and for the party.”
Miller is an intern for Durham Democrats and a member of Students for Harris. She explained that despite Biden’s strong policy record from his first term, diminished “public perception” of his capabilities due to signs of his advancing age was tanking his ratings in the polls and dividing support in the Democratic Party.
Endorsing Harris as the next Democratic candidate has “reinvigorated the Democratic base [and] united the party, at least on the surface level” according to sophomore Zoe Farris.
“I think what people really want is change,” Farris said, adding that she thinks Harris represents that change to many. She explained that Harris’s position as a non-incumbent “fresh face” may appeal to many voters, especially younger demographics who Farris believes will “flock to her.”
Hildebrand agreed, explaining that Harris’s background as a 59-year-old woman of color makes her attractive to new audiences of voters and “opens up potential other paths to victory that the Biden campaign didn’t see.”
Hildebrand also noted that the Trump campaign’s recent reliance on “fighting on the terrain of age and frailty” has been neutralized and even flipped to Democrats’ advantage now with Harris as the prospective new party leader.
The interviewees all agreed that Harris is the obvious choice to replace Biden, though they expressed differing opinions on her favorability as a candidate.
“I don’t know how much I trust Kamala Harris,” Farris said, questioning Harris’s authenticity and competency as a policy-maker. She cited her complicated history as a prosecutor and her role in the Southern border crisis as weak points for the candidate.
Hildebrand believes Harris is “fairly moderate” and has already demonstrated her ability to distinguish herself from the Biden presidency in certain policy issues. He referenced her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, where she was able to affirm support for Israel while demanding the country mitigate Palestinian suffering in Gaza.
Hildebrand also thinks it is unavoidable that Harris has been “saddled by” certain Biden administration policies early on in her campaign, but he asserted that she has an opportunity to “draw some distinctions with Biden on a number of issues” and make a name for herself.
All interviewees agreed that both candidates should focus on outlining their policy solutions rather than resorting to personal attacks.
“Let's talk about policy,” Hildebrand said. “Let's talk about the future, instead of talking about whether the president is too old to do the job.”
Hildebrand thinks Trump will continue to struggle with “trying to rise above petty politics,” something he recently endeavored to do to promote an image of national unity in the immediate aftermath of his July 13 assassination attempt. However, Trump has a history of making sexist and racist comments about Harris, a trend that has continued since she announced her candidacy.
Farris thinks Harris needs to outline policy solutions to issues surrounding the economy and immigration that appeal to moderate and independent voters.
Miller hopes Harris will take more progressive stances than Biden did in dealing with the Israel-Hamas war, attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and other social issues.
“I think the biggest tests are going to have to be around those cultural issues,” Miller said.
Although Hildebrand has noticed a newfound “sense of possibility” and “optimism” in the Democratic Party, he wants people to remember that “as of right now, Kamala Harris is still the underdog.”
“Everyone needs to understand the stakes of this moment,” Hildebrand said. “… I hope that Americans’ response to this is [that] those who are at risk of disengaging will reengage, will participate, vote, turnout, organize — do all of the things that we need them to do in campaigns and certainly not grow complacent.”
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Rae Rackley is a Trinity sophomore and a staff reporter for the news department.