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The last straw that broke the camel's back for Biden: If he continues to run, he may "drag down the Democratic Party"

2024-07-22

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On the 21st, US President Biden officially announced his withdrawal from the race and expressed his support for his running mate Harris to run for president. Some US media reported that his campaign team was not even aware of his decision to withdraw from the race in advance.

Over the past month, Biden has been besieged on all sides within the Democratic Party: polls show that Biden's approval rating, which was originally slightly less popular, has further declined; multiple donors have refused to donate to support Biden; media reports have revealed that Biden's thinking and mental state are poor on many occasions and he has to rely on his team for guidance and assistance; and even more and more Democratic members of Congress have come forward to ask him to withdraw from the election and let other candidates represent the Democratic Party to fight Trump.

Facing waves of opposition, Biden and his campaign team have repeatedly insisted on not giving up the campaign over the past 24 days. Now, what factors have completely extinguished Biden's hopes?

As of the time Biden officially withdrew from the election, nearly forty Democratic members of Congress called on Biden to step down, accounting for about 14% of the total number of Democratic members of the Senate and the House. In addition, about twenty people questioned Biden's chances of winning, and the growing trend has attracted much attention from the US media.

Are these legislators representative? We can find out by looking at their legislative platforms, constituent composition, and background identities.

There are many factions within the Democratic Party, and there are also multiple groups divided by racial identity, affairs, legislative issues, etc. Because the seats in the House of Representatives are re-elected every two years, the election of the House of Representatives is more easily affected by the current political opinion and trend than the Senate. In order to strive for re-election, members of the House of Representatives tend to hire polling companies to conduct research in their constituencies, or participate in community activities to listen to public opinion, so as to ensure that their statements in public are in line with the general trend.

Currently, the vast majority of the 37 Democrats who have come out to oppose are members of the House of Representatives, six of whom are former or current committee chairmen. In terms of qualifications, these members range from new to senior, with seven having served for more than 20 years and another nine having served for more than 10 years. These more senior members took the political risk of "casting a vote of no confidence" against the party leader, which shows the impact on Biden's campaign.

In terms of factions, these congressmen include not only radicals but also moderates, and the constituencies they represent range from the "deep blue" Democratic Party to the "purple" swing constituencies. This also reflects that Biden is constantly losing the support of voters from all factions within the party.

In addition, Biden's withdrawal, from another perspective, is also clearIf he continues to run for election, it may affect the Democratic Party's chances of winning both houses of Congress.

On the day of his announcement, the number of Democrats who called for Biden to withdraw from the race increased to five, three of whom will seek re-election in the general election this November. The election situation for two of them is relatively tense because the states they represent are swing states, and Biden's local support rate is not as good as Trump's. In other words, if the Democrats want to continue to represent these states, they must not blindly get close to the Biden administration when promoting their campaigns.

Because swing state races will determine control of the Senate next year, Democrats running in these elections are taking a cautious approach to campaigning. In public, they are more or less distancing themselves from Biden and his administration, and their campaign ads don’t mention Biden at all. (Their Republican opponents, on the other hand, have repeatedly tied these Democrats to Biden’s policies in their campaigns.)

This time, these Democrats no longer care about their years of friendship and cooperation with Biden and are making the decision to cut ties in order to preserve their own political future.

If you think the statements made by these ordinary congressmen are not important enough, then let's take a look at the Democratic leaders of both houses and their status and symbolism.

The Democratic caucuses in both chambers have a leadership team, and the leaders are elected by party members. When Congress resumes, the Democratic caucus will hold a weekly meeting, and in special circumstances, a conference call will be held to allow members to express their opinions. Therefore, these leaders have some understanding of the positions of party members, and their intentions are also very important. Their statements on various occasions are highly watched.

Since Biden took office, the Democratic Party has always held the majority in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Schumer basically serves as Biden's "rubber stamp", working closely with the White House on legislation and rarely having major disagreements. However, according to ABC News, Schumer not only privately called on Biden to end his campaign, but also made it clear that if Biden still does not give up the campaign, this approach will even affect the Democrats' campaign in both houses of Congress.

Similar concerns are also spreading among the Democratic leadership team in the House of Representatives. At the end of 2022, after former Speaker Pelosi announced that she would no longer serve as a leader, the party's older leadership team also stepped down and instead guided the new leadership, the younger generation headed by Jeffries, behind the scenes.

Although Jeffries is a new generation leader, the media continues to focus on Pelosi. The reason is that even though Pelosi is now just an ordinary member of the Democratic Party, she still maintains considerable influence in the party because of her rich political connections and resources within the Democratic Party, outstanding fundraising capabilities, and a thorough understanding of poll numbers.

Cable News Network reported recently that Pelosi privately accused Biden to his face'Drag down the Democrats', warned that more and more people in the party would express dissatisfaction with his "political weakness" and urged Biden to make a decision as soon as possible whether to continue to run for election.

Prior to this, the party leadership team had hoped to deal with the issue of Biden's continued candidacy privately. However, Biden and his team continued to indicate that they would continue their campaign, which meant that communicating with Biden's team in a private manner would not achieve the goal, and the voices within the Democratic Party urging him to withdraw from the election became increasingly public.

Now, Biden's decision to officially withdraw from the election has made the Democrats feel relieved, and the pressure they have exerted over the past month has finally paid off. At the same time, Democratic members of Congress, various party groups and organizations have quickly endorsed Harris, and the Democratic Party can finally temporarily show a "united" image to the outside world.

However, according to The Hill, moderate Senator Manchin, who quit the Democratic Party two months ago, is considering re-registering as a Democrat to challenge Harris and run for the party's presidential nomination. Therefore, whether the Democratic Party will open the nomination process to delegates or avoid chaos by finalizing the candidate before the convention will have a key impact on the party's campaign.