US President Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 election race, making room for the Democrats to nominate another candidate for the presidential election.
Biden has named Vice President Kamala Harris as his preferred pick to run against Trump — the Republican nominee .
While Harris is the likely Democrat candidate, Biden’s successor won’t be confirmed until next month’s Democratic National Convention.
A complex selection process is likely to unfold over the coming weeks. Here’s what to expect.
Biden out
On Sunday night (local time) Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election for a second term as President.
It’s the first time in modern U.S. history a candidate has dropped out so close to the election.
The 81-year-old’s withdrawal comes after mounting pressure to step aside. Several senior Democrats raised concerns about Biden’s capacity to serve as leader, following his performance against Trump in the first presidential debate.
Candidates
Before an election, the two major political parties in the U.S – the Republicans and Democrats – follow a lengthy process to choose a presidential candidate.
Most U.S. states hold a vote called a “primary” to select a presidential candidate — known as a party’s nominee.
Based on the primary results, presidential nominees are chosen at each party’s national conventions. The Republicans hosted their convention last week, where Donald Trump accepted the nomination.
A candidate is assigned ‘delegates’ based on how many primaries they win. In the 2024 primaries, Joe Biden secured 3,904 delegates out of a possible 3,949.
Next month, these delegates will attend the Democrat National Convention (DNC), where Biden was expected to be confirmed as the party’s nominee.
However, now that he’s dropped out of the race, Biden’s 3,904 delegates will be able to vote for a candidate of their choice.
The DNC will be held in Chicago from 19–22 August.
What now?
Kamala Harris has announced she wants to “earn and win” her party’s nomination.
She has 29 days to convince a majority of delegates to support her as the Democrat candidate.
Harris has received public support from high-profile Democrats including Bill and Hillary Clinton. However, a statement from former President Barack Obama thanking Biden notably did not endorse Harris.
Harris could face competition from senior Democrats like Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.
DNC
If the party does not agree on a candidate before the DNC in August, it would trigger an “open convention”.
In that case, delegates go through several rounds of voting until a candidate secures a majority.
The last time the Democrats had an open convention was in 1968, after President Lyndon Johnson withdrew from the race due to increasing tensions over his country’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
Fundraising
The Biden-Harris campaign has raised more than $US220 million ($AU330m) in the 18 months to June 2024, under a fund named “Biden for President”.
Democrats have already filed paperwork to the regulatory body, the Federal Election Commission, to change the name to “Harris for President”.
Major Democrat donors have also announced their support for Harris, including billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
