By Sally Sara: Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of the presidential poll up-ends the contest for the White House less than four months out from election day. A growing number of Democrats are backing Vice President Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee, making her the first woman of colour at the top of a major party ticket. So what chance does the Democratic Party have of retaining power and how will the Trump campaign respond? Gavin Coote reports.
Gavin Coote: For weeks and even months, many Democratic voters have been feeling gloomy about the party’s chances at the upcoming election. But the mood has suddenly shifted with President Biden now out of the race.
Voters: It’s a relief. It was surprising but definitely, um, it was the right, it was the right thing to do. Yeah, I feel like we actually have a chance. And I was waiting to hear to see if all the voters out there were going to be screaming with joy because a lot of them are Trump fans and didn’t hear anything. It’s going to be something we have never seen in our lifetime, so that’ll be interesting.
Gavin Coote: With Joe Biden’s exit from the campaign, many Democrats are rallying around Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place. Among them, former President Bill Clinton and state governors Gavin Newsom and Josh Shapiro, both of whom were considered possible contenders themselves. As questions remain about whether other Democrats would seek to challenge her for nomination, some in the party, including Senator Edward Markey, aren’t entertaining the idea of an open contest.
Edward Markey: Kamala Harris should be our nominee. Over. We can debate over who the Vice President should be, but not who our nominee for president is. Kamala Harris has earned this nomination and she will be the best candidate at the top of the ticket and we don’t need to discuss that any further.
Gavin Coote: Vice Presidents, including Joe Biden himself, have a strong track record of going on to become their party’s presidential nominee. And as pressure on Mr Biden has grown in recent months, so too have the preparations in the Trump team for a possible pivot in the campaign. Doug Heye is a former Republican Party spokesman and served in the George W. Bush administration.
Doug Heye: The Republican National Committee has a research department and what they do, as described in the name, it goes through the history of every candidate. And clearly over the past several weeks and several months, they’ve really increased their focus on Harris and others on the belief that Biden may drop out. So now that he has, that work that they’ve done over the past months will come into the forefront pretty quickly. Again, we have to know who the Democrats are going to nominate. But clearly we’re going to see and are already seeing what we call document dumps on here are the 300 terrible things about Kamala Harris. And if it’s Gretchen Whitmer or Gavin Newsom, we’ll see the exact same thing. But they’ve been prepping that work for a long time.
Gavin Coote: To what extent does that become a bit more delicate or potentially awkward? You know, you have say Trump and Biden, Trump can play that strongman figure. But if it’s against a woman, does that add a potential complication there?
Arthur Sinodinos: It does. What we’ve seen very often, Republicans have been guilty of this, Democrats have been guilty of it, is when you’re campaigning against a woman, you have to be more careful and more thoughtful on what you say, because how it is perceived sometimes can backfire. Now, Trump didn’t have that problem with Hillary Clinton, because Hillary Clinton was so defined nationally. She had been a major American political figure for more than 20 years at that point. But it’s something the Trump campaign should be mindful of. But let’s remember, Donald Trump doesn’t do thoughtful and nuanced very well.
Gavin Coote: Donald Betts Jr. is a former Democratic state senator for Kansas, now living in Australia. He thinks a Kamala Harris candidacy would up the stakes for Donald Trump.
Donald Betts Junior: Depending on how he manages Kamala Harris, if he disrespects her in any way, calls her names that could be offensive to women, could be offensive to black voters or immigrants. So any of his antics, if they could be perceived as racist or misogynist, he could lose a lot of votes.
Gavin Coote: But Donald Trump’s campaign has been boosted after he survived an assassination attempt, and because of growing doubts surrounding Joe Biden. Arthur Sinodinos, a former Australian ambassador to the US, thinks Kamala Harris might yet stand a chance against Mr Trump.
Arthur Sinodinos: It just depends now about whether she can rise to the challenge, overcome her own sort of nervousness and insecurities she sometimes displayed in the vice presidency. She’s got the job now. This is her historic opportunity. And she has to rise to that.
Gavin Coote: Australian leaders have thanked and praised President Biden for his leadership. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called him a great friend of Australia, while opposition leader Peter Dutton has also thanked the president for his commitment to the US-Australia alliance and for launching AUKUS.
Sally Sara: That report from Gavin Coote and Declan Gooch.
