President Biden dropped his reelection bid on Sunday afternoon. Someone said he did it on a Sunday because he couldn’t/shouldn’t do it when the markets were open and I do think that was a factor. Pres. Biden threw his full support behind his vice president, Kamala Harris. She will inherit Biden’s campaign apparatus and all of the money in the Biden/Harris campaign coffers. Some have even suggested – and I agree with this too – that Biden’s condition for withdrawing was that senior Democrats line up behind VP Harris quickly. Which is happening as we speak. I also think VP Harris deserves an enormous amount of credit for the way she’s conducted herself in the past month – while Democrats were knifing Biden in the back, she stayed publicly and privately loyal, and never looked or seemed eager to push Biden out. Her statement on Biden’s withdrawal moved me to tears, especially because she invoked Beau Biden, the late son of President Biden.
“On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country. His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many Presidents who have served two terms in office.
It is a profound honor to serve as his Vice President, and I am deeply grateful to the President, Dr. Biden, and the entire Biden family. I first came to know President Biden through his son Beau. We were friends from our days working together as Attorneys General of our home states. As we worked together, Beau would tell me stories about his Dad. The kind of father-and the kind of man-he was. And the qualities Beau revered in his father are the same qualities, the same values, I have seen every single day in Joe’s leadership as President: His honesty and integrity. His big heart and commitment to his faith and his family. And his love of our country and the American people.
With this selfless and patriotic act, President Biden is doing what he has done throughout his life of service: putting the American people and our country above everything else.
I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination. Over the past year, I have traveled across the country, talking with Americans about the clear choice in this momentous election. And that is what I will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead. 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. We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”
Absolutely perfect tone – respect for the man she served under as vice president, and eyes towards the future. So, looking to the future, the “Biden delegates” who would have voted for President Biden at the Democratic National Convention have already started throwing their support behind Kamala Harris. I don’t know where the delegate count stands right now (somewhere around 530, and something like 1900 is needed), but I’d like to see it get wrapped up in the next 24 hours – the last thing the party needs is a brokered convention or a fight on the convention floor. The Democratic Party state chairs jumped on a conference call yesterday and all fifty state chairs are now endorsing VP Harris as well.
One of the best pieces of news for Kamala Harris is that following President Biden’s announcement, ActBlue has been flooded with small-amount donations. As in, normal people donating $20 or $50 just to support VP Harris. ActBlue said that Sunday was their biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle and they raised $50 million in less than eight hours. This happened after major Democratic donors withdrew their support of Biden following the presidential debate in late June.
UPDATE: As of 9pm ET, grassroots supporters have raised $46.7 million through ActBlue following Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign launch. This has been the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 cycle. Small-dollar donors are fired up and ready to take on this election
— ActBlue (@actblue) July 22, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.