Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and Kamala Harris’ emergence as the Democratic nominee appeared to be absorbed by Democratic delegates quicker than a few words scribbled on a napkin commercial.
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention appear ready to change course: In conversations since Biden’s decision, many have described an almost instantaneous shift from fear to relief to a kind of euphoria.
“People are excited,” said Democratic National Committee member and California representative Michael Kopp. “We’re astounded by President Biden’s decision. It was totally selfless. He put country before himself. And I think it’s an incredible contrast to the actions of Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans.”
Hours after Biden withdrew and the president endorsed Harris, Mr. Kopp began circulating a letter urging delegates to support the vice president as the nominee. Mr. Kopp said he spoke to hundreds of delegates the next day and found no one who actually opposed the idea. The only challenge was getting people on the phone.
“I think this was one of those situations where long-term donors and grassroots Democrats were totally aligned,” Cupp said. “We’ve all been watching the polls, especially over the last three and a half weeks… It was clear that voters were looking for something different.”
Brenda Lopez Romero, a former state legislator and current Georgia representative, said all of the contenders will have to overcome fundamental financial challenges: “Harris is the only one who has access to the money that the Biden-Harris campaign has raised. No other candidate can raise the millions, close to a billion dollars, overnight that will be needed to successfully run the election in the final 100 days.”
Romero said Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison had touted Biden’s candidacy at a statewide party meeting in southern Georgia the day before Biden announced his candidacy. “I don’t think there was any talk on the ground about not letting Biden continue,” Romero said.
The next day, the shift to Harris began. “The last two weeks have felt like a year with what’s been going on in politics,” Romero said. “But the reality is, for me personally, it’s become much clearer now that Biden has made his decision.”
Democrats have repeatedly told voters this year that democracy is under scrutiny, citing President Trump’s vowing to become a “dictator” on his first day in office if elected, the threat posed by the conservative Project 2025 plan to electoral norms and a recent Supreme Court decision that largely exonerates former presidents from criminal liability.
Delegates are comparing those concerns to a lowercase “D” Democratic issue, with Harris assuming a potential leadership role without facing a competitive primary.
“Fifteen million voters cast their ballots,” Chuck Enderlin, a pilot from Newnan, Georgia, and a Democratic convention delegate, said of the 2024 primary. Voters chose Biden and Harris at the time, he said. “We knew that VP Harris would be acting for President Biden. We certainly didn’t expect it to play out like this. But the fact that she’s there means that the voters have already chosen her for vice president. That’s why I think the process is going well now and that everyone is rooting for her. We’ve already made our choice.”
Incumbent presidents typically defeat challengers, and strong challenges to incumbent presidents are rare. His two primary opponents, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson (neither appear to have won any delegate support since Biden dropped out), but for the most part, Biden won the primary unopposed.
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“If anyone is upset that they can’t run now, they should have applied to run a long time ago,” Enderlin said.
His wife, Jenny Enderlin, is also a Democratic delegate and state Senate candidate running against Republicans accused of meddling in Georgia’s election interference scandal. She said the two were on the phone when the news broke.
“There were texts and phone calls everywhere,” she said. “Everybody was guessing who was going to be vice president. That’s the No. 1 thing on everybody’s mind. But there was no question who the first choice was going to be. And it was Harris, because we voted for her.”
The president’s decision to drop out of the race was like flipping a light switch. Arvind Venkat, a Democratic representative from Pennsylvania who hails from the Pittsburgh suburbs, said he was canvassing his district when the news broke. He said his neighbors weren’t particularly surprised; they were glued to the news, and their mood quickly shifted from anxiety to curiosity.
“I’m happy to see this happening going forward,” he said, “and I think there’s an energy around this change because we’re going to get back into the conversation leading up to the election and we’re going to be debating ideas and our vision for America.”
