Democrats are working to find a candidate to replace Biden

The American presidential campaign was plunged into uncertainty on Monday, the day after the shock withdrawal of Joe Biden, with the Democrats having to urgently evaluate of the electoral calendar, if Vice-President Kamala Harris is best placed to beat Donald Trump in November.

The fifty-year-old immediately declared herself ready to “win the Democratic nomination” at the party's convention in mid-August in Chicago, after having obtained the support of the president worn out by his 81 years.

But various Democratic tenors, first and foremost Barack Obama, were careful not to provide immediate support for the first African-American woman to become vice-president.

“We will navigate uncharted territory in the days to come,” warned the former president, with delegates to the convention remaining free to vote.

– Harris supported by Biden –

In just eight days, the race for the White House has seen two major historical twists which completely reshuffled the cards of an election which hardly excited the Americans: first the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13, then the thunderclap on Sunday of the withdrawal of Joe Biden, forced to give in under pressure from his own camp.

It is in the form of a press release, although we have not seen him in public since he began convalescing last week in his seaside villa in Delaware to treat Covid, that the Democrat made this announcement.

“I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to step aside and focus solely on exercise of my functions as president until the end of my mandate”, he wrote, finally overcome by doubts about his mental acuity and the accumulation of votes from elected officials asking him to pass the torch.

US Vice President Kamala Harris during a conference in New York, United States, June 21, 2024 © AFP – ANGELA WEISS

“Today I want to give my full support and my support to Kamala to be the candidate of our party this year”, he added, one month before the convention which should have 'induct candidate.

In the hours that followed, Kamala Harris received strong support from Bill and Hillary Clinton, from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was nevertheless seen as a possible rival, and a host of elected officials, progressives and moderates alike.

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“Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and our country quickly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy,” urged influential New York elected official Alexandria Ocasio. Cortez.

Another unknown, however, remains whether independent Senator Joe Manchin, a former Democrat known for his conservative positions, also decides to enter the race.

Joe Biden's withdrawal, however, has already brought in big profits for the Democratic Party, which recorded the largest fundraising in a single day for the presidential election, i.e. 46.7 million dollars (42.8 million euros), announced ActBlue, the fundraising group for the party.

– The Trump campaign turned upside down –

On the Republican side, this announcement completely shakes up the candidacy of Donald Trump, forced to review his electoral strategy, until now very focused on the state of fitness of the Democratic president. The ex-president's campaign team thus increased the number of election advertisements featuring a blundering, stuttering, or stumbling Joe Biden.

Republican candidate Donald Trump at a meeting in Grand Rapids (Michigan, United States), July 20, 2024 © AFP – Jim WATSON

So many arguments which risk turning directly against the 78-year-old Republican, if he is opposed to Kamala Harris, almost 20 years his junior. There is no doubt that this former prosecutor will do everything to put the legal troubles of Donald Trump, convicted of criminal charges at the end of May, back in the spotlight.

The 59-year-old Democrat , who in mid-March became the first vice-president to visit a clinic carrying out voluntary terminations of pregnancies, could make abortion one of her main angles of attack.

Especially since the Republicans have lost almost every referendum or vote that raised the question of abortion since the Supreme Court's ruling in 2022.

Donald Trump's campaign team, however, assures that it is not completely taken by surprise, officials having worked behind the scenes to prepare election advertisements attacking Kamala Harris.

They will be broadcast in a series of key election states over the next few days.

Taking advantage of the Democratic setbacks, the Republican candidate continues to survey the electoral terrain, capitalizing on the unifying effect of his party's convention in Milwaukee which officially inducted candidate last Thursday.

He will hold a new campaign rally Wednesday in North Carolina.

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