As doubts continue to swirl around the Biden presidential candidacy, Hawaiian governor Josh Green, who participated in a meeting recently with the current president, said Biden could make a decision within a couple of days whether to remain the Democratic candidate for re-election or to step down. According to Green, President Joe Biden could designate his Vice President Kamala Harris to stand as his replacement on the presidential ticket.
So far, President Biden has repeatedly insisted on remaining in the race against his Republican opponent, Donald Trump. However, given his age and a number of incidents where he has appeared frail or lost his train of thought, there are concerns about his cognitive abilities and preparedness for this stressful election race, as well as how he would perform during a further four years of presidency, were he to win.
Will Biden continue in the race?
As the political landscape heats up, all eyes are on President Joe Biden and his anticipated decision regarding his bid for re-election in the 2024 Presidential race. Some of the loyal Democrats to President Biden are now raising questions about his re-election in 2024. However, the decision of Biden stepping down or going against Trump during the 2024 election is in reality entirely his to make.
One of the main flashpoints was his poor performance in the opening presidential debate. Although Biden is under a lot of pressure, he spoke during his campaign event in Virginia, “The fact is that you know, I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, going through around 100 time zones… before… the debate. Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage,” he said. “That’s no excuse but it is an explanation.”
Were Biden to make a decision about stepping down, the current thinking among most analysts and Democratic party leaders and staff is that it would need to be very soon. The Democratic National Convention, where the decision on the presidential candidate is officially finalised, is in the the third week of August, and any Biden decision to step down would need to be done at least some time before that.
More importantly, the election itself is November 5. If a new candidate were to build a head of steam ahead of polling day (and taking into account that much voting takes place earlier with mail-in ballots, for example), they’d need to get going as soon as possible.
According to a House Democratic aide, about 25 Democrats from the House of Representatives are preparing to call Biden to step down if his instability continues. Lloyd Doggett, a US Representative, became the first congressional Democrat to call President Biden to withdraw from the race. He told NBC News on Tuesday that he hopes other Democratic lawmakers will follow suit.
However, Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it is fine to ask if President Biden’s performance during the debate was just a one-night occurrence or a broader health issue. She believes Biden has had multiple legislative accomplishments during his tenure as the president and it’s only fair to give him a chance
The outcome of Biden’s meeting with the governors
On Wednesday evening, President Biden held a private meeting with the Democratic governors. The governor of Hawaii who spoke after the meeting said President Joe Biden might likely designate his Vice President Kamala Harris to stand as his replacement on the presidential ticket.
In his words, “If the president doesn’t think he can beat Donald Trump, he will hand it off to Kamala Harris”.
“The president has to make this decision with his life-long colleagues from the Senate and his wife. Jill Biden is a superstar. They’ll make the right decision” Josh Green added.
Green, who is Biden’s close ally, was one of the governors in attendance during the enclosed meeting with the President. 25 Democratic governors were present at the meeting, 14 of which attended via the video link. Green expressed how alarmed he felt after watching the presidential debate. However, he felt reassured after the meeting with President Biden.
