• President Joe Biden announced Sunday he is ending his re-election bid and is throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in November. It’s the latest bombshell shakeup to this year’s presidential race. Biden said in a statement, “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” In her own statement, Harris said she intends to “earn and win the nomination.” Within hours, a number of big-name Democrats endorsed Harris, though party leadership remained notably quiet on her candidacy as of late Sunday. California Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee talks about why she thinks it’s time for the party to unite around Harris, while Axios National Political Correspondent Alex Thompson explains what’s next for Harris to successfully campaign.

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TRANSCRIPT

Josie Duffy Rice: It is Monday, July 22nd. I’m Josie Duffy Rice. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And I’m Tre’vell Anderson and this is What a Day. Y’all the unprecedented times keep unprecedenting. So there can only be one headline today, because on Sunday, President Joe Biden ended his 2024 presidential campaign. 

[clip of unidentified NBC news reporter] Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, announcing this afternoon that he will no longer be the Democratic presidential nominee for this election. 

Tre’vell Anderson: The president announced the news in a statement, writing, quote, “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.” He also released a separate statement endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic Party’s new nominee for president. Harris released her own statement, writing, quote, “I am honored to have the president’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination. 

Josie Duffy Rice: It has truly been a big day. [laughter] We are recording this at 9 p.m. Eastern on Sunday night, and things have been moving very, very fast since the news broke on Sunday afternoon. Democrats were pretty united in expressing their support for the president’s decision to drop out. So tell us about their reaction to the news yesterday. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah, there was a major focus on Biden’s legacy and everything his administration has accomplished. And many high profile Democrats on the Hill were quick to get behind Harris. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Jamie Raskin, and Ilhan Omar were among the House lawmakers to endorse her, and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin also gave statements in support of the vice president. Notably, some of the Democratic Party’s highest ranking members did not immediately throw their support behind her. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, for example, both released statements on Sunday after Biden stepped down but stopped short of acknowledging his endorsement of Harris. And here’s what House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had to say on MSNBC yesterday when asked what he was hearing from Democrats and voters about Harris potentially being the party’s new nominee. 

[clip of Hakeem Jeffries] Members are very excited. Voters on the ground are very excited. The party is very excited. We want to continue to lift up President Joe Biden in all of his incredible accomplishments. And as he’s made the decision to pass the torch, plot the path forward to make sure that we win the presidency, hold the Senate, and certainly take back control of the United States House of Representatives. 

Josie Duffy Rice: One representative, who is definitely excited about the possibility of nominating Vice President Harris to replace Joe Biden is Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California. During the run up to the 2020 presidential election, she endorsed Kamala Harris. I spoke with the representative on Sunday, shortly after President Biden announced he was leaving the race, and I started off by asking for her immediate reaction to the news. 

Barbara Lee: Well, my immediate reaction was, what a historic day. I know that he did a lot of soul searching, and I know that he made the right decision based on what he thought was the right decision for the country. And I think today my immediate reaction was, let’s take a moment and thank him for his service. 50 years plus in public service, he and Kamala Harris have delivered for the American people. While we all haven’t agreed on every issue and how he’s handled every issue, he has fought for working families. He’s fought for low income people, for Black and Brown people, for women. Finally, I’ll just say, if you remember when he took over, people were dying by the thousands of Covid and he saved lives and livelihoods. And for that alone, we should be deeply grateful. 

Josie Duffy Rice: President Biden has endorsed Vice President Harris as his replacement. How do you feel about that? What do you think she brings to a ticket? 

Barbara Lee: Why, of course, when, Vice President Harris, ran for president, I was one of the first members of Congress to endorse her. And she’s prepared. She’s experienced. She’s a prosecutor here. We have a Donald Trump who’s a convicted felon. I mean, the contrast couldn’t be clearer. And uh, it’s important that the party unify around her. But again, today, I think it’s important to also lift up the legacy and the the work that, President Biden has done and move forward, unify it around Vice President Kamala Harris as our nominee. 

Josie Duffy Rice: You know, Vice President Harris has been especially outspoken on issues like abortion and voting rights and immigration. And obviously, Congress has been sort of deadlocked on some of those issues thanks to the Republicans. They haven’t been able to pass substantial legislation on those fronts. What do you think that voters can expect from her as a president? Do you think that she can help deliver those wins? 

Barbara Lee: Absolutely. Look at the wins she’s already helped deliver, and she’s already helped the administration deliver so many wins when it comes to capping the cost of insulin $35, creating 15 million plus new good paying union jobs. Maintain the affordable health care and expand the affordable health care. You know, making sure that uh, the administration is fighting for reproductive freedom, for people to have a right to make their own decisions about their own body, fighting for ensuring that uh, we have a first African-American woman as a Supreme Court justice. So I think the continuation of what she has worked with the president on is extremely important to highlight. And uh, it’s monumental. And uh, she’s experienced and she knows what she’s doing. She’s smart and she connects with voters. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So one thing that we can pretty much guarantee, right, is we are going to see some racism and some misogyny in response to Vice President Harris being the nominee. How do you think the Democrats should respond to this? And do you think that this is a real issue that is going to prevent people from coming to the polls, or how do you sort of see that play into this election? 

Barbara Lee: Well, certainly as a Black woman who’s been through some tough races, I know exactly what you’re talking about. But it’s important for Democrats to push back on that. When you look at Donald Trump, who’s a sociopath, he’s a pathological liar. He uh, is a convicted felon. Look at how he treats women. His disrespect for women. I mean, it’s like, come on. And so, you know, being a woman is a factor. Being a Black woman and a woman of Indian descent, you know, that’s a plus in the country that is as diverse as America. And so Democrats need to see this as a plus. It’s value added. It’s something that’s going to generate excitement among young people. Uh. And again, we have to move forward and connect with voters. And she certainly connects with voters. And Democrats have to just beat back and push back on all the stuff that most Black women know so well in every sector of this country. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And so for this win to happen, what does the message need to be now with President Biden out of the race, how are you kind of seeing the next few months in order to make sure that Donald Trump does not end up back in the White House? 

Barbara Lee: Well it’s connecting with voters, informing voters of the threats, first of all, of the dismantle of our democracy, reminding voters who Donald Trump is, reminding voters that Democrats fight for people. We of course, the cost of living is too high. We’ve got to address the issues around housing. We’ve got to address the issues around climate. We’ve got to address the issues reducing the cost of groceries, reducing the cost of gasoline. The cost of living is still too high. It’s coming down, inflation. The economic issues are extremely important, along with reproductive freedom and the rights of all people, because they’re trying to turn back our voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights. And so we have to engage voters with what is taking place and the threats, but also what the next administration is committed to doing to make life better for everyone. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And so I know for you, for me, for so many others, this is a really historic moment, right? To see a Black woman heading up the ticket for a president. What would you say? What does it mean to you? Or what would it mean to you to have a Black woman as president? 

Barbara Lee: Gosh, let me just say. Huh boy. Um, I got involved in politics through the first African-American woman elected to Congress who was the first Black woman to run for president, and that was Shirley Chisholm. And I remember when Kamala ran for president, we uh had Shirley Chisholm colors. So I know I’m thinking of Shirley Chisholm today and how proud she must be and how grateful she must be for President Biden in terms of taking um the most experienced woman, Black woman on the ticket as his vice presidential nominee and vice president. And so it’s just a full circle moment. Shirley Chisholm paved the way for me to run for Congress, and she paved the way now for Vice President Harris to run for the presidency. And she’s going to win if we all do our work. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Congresswoman Lee, thank you so, so much for your time. 

Barbara Lee: Okay. Glad to be with you. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And that was my conversation with Congresswoman Barbara Lee. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Thank you for that, Josie. And in a moment, we’re going to continue the conversation on what the 2024 race looks like now, including how a massive campaign machine can pivot on a dime, and whether Harris can shed Biden’s baggage on issues like the war in Gaza and inflation. Axios political reporter Alex Thompson joins for answers right after some ads. [music break]

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Josie Duffy Rice: Let’s get back to the one and only headline we are covering today. President Joe Biden announced on Sunday an end to his 2024 presidential campaign, and he quickly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place. Now, it’s not official that she’s the nominee just yet. There are thousands of Democratic delegates who were pledged to nominate Biden as early as next week during a roll call vote. But with Joe’s withdrawal, party officials are currently scrambling to determine what the next steps will be, and the convention rules actually allow someone other than Harris to throw their hat into the ring. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Oh yes, it could get messy and chaotic very quickly. But to get a better sense of how this bombshell announcement played out in Washington yesterday, and what’s next for Harris to become the candidate, I spoke with Alex Thompson. He’s the national political correspondent for Axios. I started by asking him how Biden ultimately came to his decision to drop out of the race. 

Alex Thompson: You know, it was a recognition over time that, you know, the party in some ways had decided that he should not be the nominee. And, you know, taking you behind the curtain a little bit, this caught a lot of people off guard within the Biden campaign, within the White House, in part because the White House had been so furious in their denials about, you know, a potential withdrawal. But my understanding is that basically, Biden talked to very, very few people before he posted that letter and then eventually convened a call around one to 1:45. It’s sort of unclear, with a few select aides and senior staff and basically read the letter and said that, you know, we have five more months of the presidency and, you know, expected us all to work hard. And, you know, the decision was made to sort of split, you know, endorsing Kamala Harris with his decision to withdraw, sort of as a way of, I think, in his mind, sort of making it classier. But obviously everyone immediately saw he [?] endorsing Harris. So they very quickly made clear that that was his intention. And then, you know, it was basically all done within an hour Sunday afternoon. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. And so, practically speaking, what happens now, like what’s it going to take for the campaign for the Democratic Party to reorient themselves right around a new candidate with less than four months to go until Election Day? 

Alex Thompson: Well, the first thing that needs to happen is that Vice President Kamala Harris, she is going to try to consolidate the party behind her and earn this nomination, especially over the next week. She’s already been calling lawmakers across the country. You know, obviously, having President Biden throw his support the, both Hillary and Bill Clinton throw their support. And a lot of other lawmakers and organizations, including Emily’s List. So the support is very meaningful, but it’s just as meaningful that Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, at least has from of this recording, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama did not explicitly endorse her candidacy. And I think there is some anxiety about how strong of a candidate she would be at the top of the ticket. And so the first thing that might happen is Kamala Harris is going to try to clear the field and make clear that she’s the nominee, and that’s going to be the focus of this next week. If she then does that, you’re going to basically see her try to take over what was the Biden-Harris campaign with a lot of pro-Biden people at the top. Kamala Harris has her own people. I’m sure she’ll want them to have more input in terms of direction of the campaign, and that will be a fascinating transition. I think Harris is going to leave at least some of that alone and just let them continue to do their thing. But, you know, if her name is going to be the top of the ticket, I think she and her people are going to want to have a say about how it’s done. 

Tre’vell Anderson: So now, what should we make of the fact that the party’s leadership, like you just said, haven’t yet thrown their support behind her? What would hold them back in this particular moment from doing so? 

Alex Thompson: Depends on the person. You know, I think Barack Obama has long considered himself as like he wants to be neutral. He was in the 2016 primary, at least publicly, and was publicly neutral in 2020. But I can tell you, like there are some real doubts about Kamala Harris, and that’s because her vice presidency has, at the very least, been uneven, if not rocky. She’s had a lot of staff turnover. She has been fairly risk averse. Some people in the Biden administration have felt that she did not embrace tough assignments in the way that they had been hoping. So I think that’s part of it. I think there’s a feeling that, hey, like, this has not been the most successful vice presidency of all time. Like, let’s embrace the moment and show us that it’s your time. 

Tre’vell Anderson: But at the same time, right? She certainly is the best person probably positioned to be the nominee at this point. You just mentioned some of the things that I think folks have identified as potential weaknesses in her potential candidacy, but what about her strengths as the potential nominee? What comes to mind for you? 

Alex Thompson: Absolutely. And your point is exactly right. That she is has the inside track here. I mean, it’s her nomination to lose. You know, in terms of her strengths, she is by far and away the most vetted person within the Democratic ranks. Um. She has been at the forefront of the abortion rights fight for this administration and probably is the most prominent abortion rights defender within the party in general. I think of any issue. If you were to try to name one lawmaker associated with that issue, which is also the Democratic Party’s strongest issue, I think it would be hard to name somebody else than her. And, you know, she also has the sitting president’s endorsement, and she knows his team. And on the a more tactical level, the fact that the campaign can just sort of continue with her because she was already part of the ticket, is another huge advantage that other people with White House ambitions. You know, you’re talking about trying to stand up a general election campaign in record time and maybe potentially impossible time. 

Tre’vell Anderson: We also know, right, that, like Biden’s support from voters had eroded over a variety of issues, chief among them being whether or not he was mentally fit for office. But there was also his backing of Israel and its war in Gaza, the handling of the economy. Do you think that Harris carries any of that baggage with her as she sets off to be the president now? 

Alex Thompson: Certainly, the Trump campaign has already been trying to make that the case. It’s unclear how successful they’ll be. I think it really depends on the issue. I think you’re already starting to see this messaging that Donald Trump is the oldest presidential nominee in history, right? And trying to turn around the age issue. You know, in terms of the economy, you know, that will be a little bit trickier because she is associated with the Biden Harris record. And if you believe the the economy is a weak point, then, you know, I think she may have some trouble you know navigating that attack. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. Now, in terms of folks who might challenge her for the nomination, we know that earlier this month, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said that she wouldn’t run even if Biden dropped out. California Governor Gavin Newsom said he would not run against Harris. Who are some of those names that we are hearing that might be potentially put forth to challenge her? 

Alex Thompson: You know, this list is going to really shift because I imagine it’s possible that a lot of these people are going to endorse Harris, you know, within the week or within the next 24 hours. So, you know, there is a consolidation behind her. But I think it’s a combination, it’s the governors and the people that ran before. You have governors like JB Pritzker of Illinois, like Beshear of Kentucky. People have mentioned Josh Shapiro, but I believe he just um, endorsed Harris right before we got on this call. And then there’s the people that ran before, people like Senator Cory Booker, who, you know, I can tell you was fundraising in 2022, in the chance that Joe Biden would not run. And he has a lot of cash on hand that he can pour into a presidential campaign. If this becomes an open floor fight. He is almost certainly too old. But it was notable to me that Bernie Sanders, when he was asked on a Sunday show a few weeks ago if he would ever enter the race if Joe Biden dropped out. He basically gave a non-answer. So, you know, it will be fascinating to watch. Though I do think by the end of the week, it’s very possible that Kamala Harris has cleared the field and that this conversation is over. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Now, what about the response from Republicans? Former President Donald Trump has already said that he thinks Harris would be easier to beat than Biden. But I’m wondering, you know, privately, what’s the mood on the other side of the aisle? 

Alex Thompson: You know, I think there’s always anxiety with uncertainty. And that’s what this now brings. I think the Trump campaign off the record, on background, talking through other people, was incredibly confident they could beat Joe Biden. And this is something new. You know, Republicans have gone back and forth in the caricatures of Vice President Harris. You know, at first it was that she was this great mastermind of the White House and that she was pulling all the strings, and then they moved to like that she was like an incompetent, I’m putting this in quotes, but like “DEI hire” which is often like a sort of a race baiting trope on the right wing. You know, I think caricatures are often misleading. And in some ways, I think, you know, Harris could end up being proven to be underrated. But, you know, we’ll see. She hasn’t been under this sort of spotlight ever in her entire life. 

Tre’vell Anderson: That was my conversation with Alex Thompson, national political correspondent for Axios. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Again, this news about Biden moved very quickly and we will keep you updated on it all. So make sure to follow Crooked Media on all your socials. [music break]

Tre’vell Anderson: That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Thank Dark Brandon for his service and tell your friends to listen. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And if you are into reading and not just the 37 gazillion statements made in the past week like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. So check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe! I’m Josie Duffy Rice. 

Tre’vell Anderson: I’m Tre’vell Anderson. 

[spoken together] And if this is July what will the October surprise be? 

Tre’vell Anderson: I don’t know, but y’all better buckle up, buttercup. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I want all surprises to be in work day hours 9-5 Monday through Friday. That’s all I ask. [music break] 

Tre’vell Anderson: What a day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. We had production help today from Leo Duran, Michell Eloy, Ethan Oberman, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. 

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